More freshmen participated in the construction of the bonfire than ever before, according to Brian Ea '12, build chair for the bonfire committee.
"We had around 180 people come to help build, almost twice as many as last year, which was the previous high. Usually it's maybe 30 people," Ea said.
Ea said that, for the most part, bonfire construction went according to plan. The construction was able to stay on schedule, despite some short delays.
"We were a little bit behind schedule on Thursday, but we got finished when we wanted to [Friday]," Ea said. "There were definitely a few delays, but we ended up where we wanted."
At one point, the build team ran out of pallets, the boards of wood used as filler for the bonfire structure, according to Ea. They eventually found more and construction were able to resume. The rain posed another problem, Ea said.
"The weather Thursday wasn't great, so we didn't have as many volunteers," he said. "We had a lot more people on Friday."
Ea added that the building went smoothly because of favorable weather Friday and several past build chairs who offered freshmen their support, such as Marshall Bartlett '11.
"They acted as supervisors, so when I had class, Marshall and the other guys were out there," Ea said. "They had done this before and I of course hadn't, so they did a lot of supervising."
The upperclassmen also assisted Ea with building techniques. The builders utilize a pulley system to get people to the top of the structure, and some of the specialized knowledge the upperclassmen provided was necessary.
"We had a little bit of trouble with the harness we had," Ea said. "One guy was the expert because he does rock climbing and knows the knots and stuff. When he had class, Ry [Sullivan '09] and I were up there and we didn't know what we were doing at first."
The night of the bonfire also went according to schedule, Ea said, as did the pre-bonfire Freshmen Sweep, which Lauren Goodnow '12, bonfire committee co-chair, described as an impressive display of school spirit.
Alumni events were also well attended and went smoothly, according to Alumni Relations Communications Director Diana Lawrence.
"We haven't received the formal attendance estimate from security yet, but it looks as though turnout this year was at about the same level as last year," Lawrence said in an e-mail message. "Participation in our events was very strong."
Approximately 650 alumni and students showed up to the pre-parade tent, 200 alumni attended English professor Peter Saccio's Faculty Chalk Talk lecture and 65 attended the Hanover Huddle, the football talk with football Coach Buddy Teevens, she said.
"We feel that the weekend went very well," Lawrence said in the e-mail. "The alumni seemed to really enjoy themselves, we had a great turnout at the affiliated group event on Saturday evening, and we feel good about the mini-reunions that were held. If we could change anything, I think next year we'll be looking for ways to increase turnout along the parade route."
For Goodnow, the number of people who came out to enjoy the bonfire and Freshmen Sweep helped make Friday night a success.
"What was so gratifying was the number of people who came out to build. It was great to see how many alums and students came out," she said
Ea agreed that the turnout justified all of his hard work and planning in the weeks leading up to Homecoming.
"It was really nice seeing people enjoying themselves so much on Friday night," he said. "It was rewarding, especially because it was so many people's first Homecoming. It just made it that much more fun."
