Although the snow purchased to build the cupcake sculpture weighed heavily on the 2012 Winter Carnival Council's $16,000 budget, the Council recouped an unforeseen $6,000 when it was unable to set off fireworks at the opening ceremony last night, Winter Carnival Council co-chair Mandy Bowers '14 said.
The planned $6,000 firework show was canceled because cars were blocking the area in the Dewey parking lot where the fireworks were to be set off, according to Bowers. The car owners were notified one month ago that they would be required to move their vehicles for the show yesterday evening, she said. A towing company was not called because an estimated 50 cars would have had to be moved, she said.
The Council will not have to pay for the unused fireworks, according to Bowers.
"I'm not happy that the fireworks show was canceled," she said. "But the silver lining is now we probably won't be going over our budget."
The Winter Carnival Council had to allocate a significant portion of its budget over $4,000 to buy snow for the snow sculpture and the planned campus snow sculpture contest. The Winter Carnival Council has a $16,000 budget from Programming Board, but will not know exactly how much they have spent until they receive bills for all of the purchases associated with the weekend.
In addition to funding the purchase of snow, the budget will be spent on a wide range of activities, including the 99-cent ski day at the Dartmouth Skiway, Polar Bear Swim, Carnival Ball, a gingerbread house building event and the construction of the snow sculpture, Bowers said.
Funds were allocated for the scheduled Carni Classic, human dog sled race and campus sculpture contest, but all were canceled due to unseasonably warm weather.
Students are typically unaware of the cost of the Carnival, Council co-chair Rob Brett '14 said.
Building the traditional snow sculpture is more expensive than usual this year due to the lack of snow, Bowers said.
To offset the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snow, the Council purchased more than $4,000-worth of snow from the Dartmouth Skiway, she said.
Winter Carnival's $16,000 budget is comparable to that of previous years, Director of the Collis Center for Student Involvement Eric Ramsey said.
Programming Board allocates more money to Winter Carnival than to any of the other big weekends, Programming Board budget co-chair Maritza Miller '13 said.
Carnival is one of Programming Board's largest expenditures of the year, according to Ramsey. Last year's budget of $18,000 was slightly larger than normal as it was the Carnival's centennial celebration, Ramsey said.
The additional funds were spent on social events throughout the weekend and a larger snow sculpture.
The funding for each big weekend varies in amount and number of contributors, making them difficult to compare, Ramsey said. Funding for the Carnival is "the most centralized" of any of the weekends, he said.
In contrast, Homecoming is funded largely by the Undergraduate Finance Committee and the Class Councils, while Green Key has no central budget, and each event is sponsored individually, he said.
Expenses for Carnival include decorations for the Carnival Ball, hiring caterers and bands for the various events, security and preparation for the Polar Bear Swim and maintaining emergency response teams at each event, Bowers said.
This year's uncooperative weather forced the Winter Carnival Council to re-prioritize its budget, Bowers said.
Before accounting for the cost of the snow, the Winter Carnival Council had contemplated hiring an extra bus for the 99-cent ski day and funding horse-drawn carriage rides, initiatives they are seriously considering for next year, Bowers said. This year the Winter Carnival Council is working hard to minimize costs by hiring a cheaper bus company to drive students to the 99-cent ski day and spending less on catering, Bowers said.
The Council had originally tried to reduce costs in order to pay for the fireworks show, which would have been the greatest single expense of the weekend, he said.
Winter Carnival Council also sells T-shirts and Carnival posters including collectible posters from previous years to supplement their allotted budget from Programming Board, Brett said.
The Carnival merchandise is being sold in Collis from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, Bowers said. The Winter Carnival Council expects to earn approximately $6,750 in revenue from these sales, she said.
Before the firework show was canceled due to the presence of cars in the Dewey parking lots, Brett was excited for students to see the pyrotechnic display during the opening ceremony.
Together with the unveiling of the snow sculpture, the lighting of the torches by the ski team captains and College President Jim Yong Kim's speech, the fireworks would have added significantly to the festive nature of the opening ceremony, according to Brett.
