While everything about Green Key is quintessentially Dartmouth, the Big Green is not the only college with a distinct spring festival. At schools across the nation, study-weary students eagerly anticipate fun and frivolity in the brightening spring weather.
Many colleges around the nation have musical acts as the centerpieces for their spring festivals.
Down south at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, the annual Rites of Spring event invigorates the student population. Like Green Key, the festival weekend is a boisterous time for fraternity parties and multiples concerts.
"All of the frats put big parties around that time of year because the concerts end at 12 and all of Greek row is lit up afterwards," Samantha Breakstone, a Vanderbilt freshman, said.
The concerts cater to multiple musical tastes, with everything from bluegrass to jazz to rap.
"This year we had Ben Folds and Bone Thugs and Harmony," Breakstone said.
Ben Folds also performed with Talbi Kweli at Slope Day, Cornell University's spring festival. Slope Day is a much-beloved part of the spring social scene. The celebration dates back to 1901, according to Cornell's Web site. Last year, the event drew The Game and Snoop Dogg as performers.
In recent years the university's administration has recently sought to address the alcohol-related theme to the event, although not all students have yet felt the effects.
"It's like an all-day drunk-fest and campus security doesn't do anything because it's a part of Cornell's tradition," said Cornell freshman Samantha Kent.
At Emory University, the coming of spring signals the school's yearly Dooley Week. The festival is named for Emory's mascot, William M. Dooley, a skeleton who, legend has it, broke free from one of the school's biology labs nearly 100 years ago.
"If Dooley walks into your class, the class is dismissed, and the week culminates with a costume ball in his honor," reported The Fiske Guide to Colleges for 2006.
This year, Spike Lee, who attended nearby Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., spoke at the festival.
Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins' Spring Fair is so big that it attracts crowds from many surrounding neighborhoods in addition to just the college's students. According to the school's website, every year "The Mayor of Baltimore proclaims the weekend 'The Johns Hopkins University Spring Fair Days.'" This year, the fair was themed "Spring Fair: Back With a Vengeance" and it featured Brand New as its headlining act.
At some schools, the spring weekend takes a decidedly community-service angle. Washington University in Saint Louis is one example. Every spring, the school sponsors Thurtene Carnival. The event, which began in 1904, is the nation's longest running philanthropic festival organized by students.
"Most student groups have a booth and every sorority joins up with a fraternity for the festival," Melissa Diener, a WashU freshman, said.
Proceeds from the event are donated to a local children's charity, chosen by the event's organizers.
