On Saturday afternoon, students will flock to the famed Alpha Delta lawn party, where they will revel in the flow of Keystone, the laid-back, musical atmosphere and the company of 500 of their closest friends.
"Historically it's been the biggest party of Green Key," AD President Griffin Gordon '06 said.
The lawn party has gained popularity with good reason. In addition to music from local bands, it also offers a refreshing change from the fraternity basement scene and a chance to revel in the spring weather.
"It's a nice change from the basement atmosphere," Lynda Tricarico '06 said. "Even when it rains, it's really fun, laid back, the music's great."
Tricarico, who attended the lawn party during last year's rainy conditions, added that even undesirable weather conditions fail to damper the spirit of the party. Current weather forecasts predict a few showers and a high of 59 degrees.
This year, AD expects a turn-out of over 500 guests during the course of the party, which runs from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Rock group Spinto will headline the party, accompanied by campus rock band Spiderdome, of which three AD brothers are members.
Besides the up-and-coming music, dancing and socializing that characterize the event, the lawn party also has a reputation for its spontaneous atmosphere and wild stunts.
In a 1998 interview with the Dartmouth, "Animal House" screenwriter Chris Miller '63 revealed that the scene in his film where an Alpha Tau Chi brother skis down the stairs as the band Otis Day and the Knights starts playing the song "Shout," was not, in fact, fiction. According to Miller, one of his fraternity brothers performed the same feat at an AD lawn party.
In addition, Miller said that the scene where Bluto, the character played by John Belushi, dumps mustard on himself also took place in real life. An Alpha Delta brother got into an industrial-size bottle of mustard on the Sunday morning of Green Key, while the previous day's party still continued strong.
In more recent years, students have chugged from a three-story beer funnel and participated in spontaneous mud-wrestling competitions.
"It can get rowdy," said Grace Crandall '06, an attendee of last year's lawn party and a sports staffer for The Dartmouth.
In 1999, when a member of Chi Heorot attended the party dressed only in toilet paper, another partygoer lit his costume on fire.
With such a rambunctious, fun atmosphere and high attendance level, the fence set up around the lawn often isn't enough to keep the party under control. The fraternity pays the College to post two Safety and Security officers around the perimeter of the lawn to help keep the crowd in check.
AD Social Chair Russell Daiber '06 said the officers helpful in the past and Gordon said the officers don't interfere too much with the party itself.
"S&S typically just stands back near the Sphinx and watches the party, making sure nothing egregiously illegal happens," Gordon said. "Last year they were just hanging out watching people mud wrestle."
AD has procured a special College permit which allows students of legal age to consume alcohol on the lawn outside, the fraternity but will be prohibiting students from bringing their own outside sources of alcohol.
In addition, Safety and Security will be making sure the fraternity stays in accordance with SEMP protocol, and can still take intoxicated underage drinkers to Dick's House, College Proctor Harry Kinne said. Daiber said that although it's difficult to stop people from bringing in outside sources of alcohol, he feels that the fraternity does a good job.
"We are taking a lot of precautions and security measures, and anyone found with an outside source of alcohol will be immediately thrown out," he said. "We urge students not to try to bring any hard alcohol or punch in outside containers -- they will most likely get caught, and we don't want to ruin anyone's afternoon," he added.
"There will be plenty of beer at AD for people to all have a good time."
