Though Summer Carnival was considerably low-key in comparison to events of other terms like Green Key and Homecoming, many students still found that it provided a pleasant and social atmosphere.
The sunny music and delicious aroma of warm barbecues drew a substantial amount of people to the Carnival's events this past weekend.
On Friday evening the Summer Carnival featured a barbecue accompanied by a performance by "Lucky Southern," a band composed of recently graduated Dartmouth students. Friday's event attracted a healthy crowd of about 400 people.
For Saturday afternoon, Carnival features included another barbecue, a pie-eating contest, a performance by the locally popular reggae band "Lambs' Bread" and the inflated recreational activities of volleyball and "Moonbounce." People attending the carnival could make "wax hands" by dipping their hands in paraffin wax and subsequently molding it.
Roughly 500 people stopped by for Saturday's events. They spread out on the Green listening to reggae music and munched on a tasty meal of barbecue chicken, pork ribs, corn on the cob and cole slaw. Sticks of cotton candy added to the Carnival atmosphere of the occasion.
In addition, a cheering crowd gathered for the competitors of the pie-eating contest, of which Jared DeYoung '04 was the victor.
The Henna tattoo artist's services were also very popular among Saturday's crowd, as indicated by the long line of people waiting for their turn for the unique form of body art.
Jared Knote '04 and Megan McCulloch '04 are the co-chairs of the Programming Board this summer and had overseen the project from its beginning to end. Both Knote and McCulloch expressed satisfaction with the overall attendance and success of the events.
Knote was also pleased with the quality of interaction between students as well as the diversity of the crowd he observed at the Carnival. He described the Carnival as a "nice bonding experience" for students, particularly for members of the sophomore class.
"It is refreshing whenever you have an event that draws upon the diversity on campus," Knote said. "We try to get the whole student body to interact and that happened very successfully this time around."
According to Knote, the Programming Board had started planning for the Summer Carnival at the beginning of summer term, and that gave them enough time to think about what they wanted the event to be like this time.
"The Carnival has gone through several incarnations," Knote said, "and this last one has been our idea of what a carnival should be like."
He explained that rather than promoting a high-energy Carnival, the board decided to plan a more laid-back and social weekend. He pointed out that a relaxed atmosphere is nice for students "particularly before finals come around."
Knote expressed hopes that the laid-back nature of the Carnival this past weekend will continue in the future.
Clouds seemed ominous on Saturday morning but by the time the events began that day clear skies and cool weather helped to encourage members of the Dartmouth community to enjoy the music, the games and the overall atmosphere of this year's Summer Carnival.
