Whereas Homecoming and Winter Carnival weekends feature nighttime parties as their social staple, Green Key plays host to elaborate outdoor festivities on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Phi Delta Alpha fraternity's traditional block party and Alpha Delta fraternity's lawn party regularly draw thousands of students and community members.
On Friday afternoon, Phi Delt will hold its annual block party, the kickoff event to Green Key weekend. All of Webster Avenue will be shut down for the events. A large stage will be set up in front of Phi Delt, with a turnout expected to be near last year's of 3,000.
The party will feature The Northern Mississippi Allstars as its main band, who performed in Spain just last week and will be touring throughout the United States this summer. The band's sound is a cross between country blues, country rock and Southern rock. Just last week, the band performed in Spain, and it will be touring throughout the United States this summer.
"A lot of people in the Northeast don't really know them but they're really big in the South," Brad Fierstein '06, who planned Phi Delt's Green Key events this year, said. "They're becoming a big national presence and are at all the main jam band festivals."
The Northern Mississippi All Stars are also bringing their opening act jam band, which will perform on the Phi Delt main stage as well. Two campus bands will play across the street in between these acts. Simultaneously, Tabard will hold a barbecue.
While Phi Delt's block party will dominate Friday afternoon, the Green Key festivities will continue on Saturday at AD. The fraternity will hold its popular lawn party from 1-5 p.m. This year's band will be Pete and the Jays, who have just signed a deal and are coming out with an album.
AD each year gets a permit to drink alcohol outside, although no one may bring his or her own alcohol to the party.
"People really just enjoy going outside, hanging out and listening to music, even if it's a rainy day," Josh Gregg '06, treasurer of AD, said.
Gregg also noted that many people proceed to AD from the Theta Delta Chi Pig Roast, another weekend tradition.
Both Phi Delt and AD stress that the event is open to all Dartmouth students and the greater community.
"This is the biggest thing Phi Delt does in terms of trying to welcome the whole campus. It's not a frat party. It's a thing for the whole campus, town and other people. It's more inclusive than say, having something in a frat basement," Fierstein said.
Gregg also saw an open-invitation mentality to the weekend.
"We encourage everyone to come and enjoy the band. That's the whole idea of Green Key weekend," Gregg said. "The whole school gets together and enjoys the atmosphere in the spring which is so much fun."
Fraternity members anticipate that the festivities will be worth the elaborate planning behind them.
"We worked on the band since the end of the fall," Gregg said. "It's definitely one of those events that takes a lot of planning especially among the guys who are new officers."
Phi Delt also looked into a number of bands, finally selecting the Northern Mississippi Allstars based on what they could afford with their budget and what bands were available.
"We ended up choosing between bands that were a whole lot less money [than the one they chose] but not as big, so it was a house decision," Fierstein said. "It's our biggest production in terms of time, money and people."
In addition to these two daytime functions, other Greek organizations will be hosting events. On Friday night, Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity will have a dance party from 11-3 p.m, followed by its usual "Come as you are" party at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. Also on Friday night Sigma Nu will host an '80s dance party, Kappa Kappa Kappa will hold a dance party, and Alpha Theta will host its Seven Deadly Sins party. Saturday Heorot will have a foam and blacklight party while Psi Upsilon will feature the band Rock Kandy.
