Last Wednesday was the kind of spring day that warranted heading outdoors. If that was not occasion enough, a barbecue, carnival and block party, all rolled into one, could be found on the lawn in front of Travers and Wolfe for the Residence Hall Association's (RHA) annual Lions' Fest.
The festivities, supported by an array of campus clubs and organizations, included archery, a dunk tank and mini-basketball hoops, as well as a variety of inflatable challenges and games. Students spent the day jousting in a blow-up arena and sparring with oversized gloves in a moon-bounce boxing ring. The three crowd favorites of the day included an inflated obstacle course, water slide and bungee run.
Organizations set up tables offering students barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers, cotton candy, popsicles, make-your-own trail mix and root beer floats - a novelty so popular it ran out in an hour.
WTSR blared over the speakers as a dripping wet Christine Cullen, senior criminology major and executive president of the Student Government Association (SGA), explained how she ended up in the dunk tank.
"They thought it would be funny to dunk the SGA president," she said. "Every time someone winds up, a wave of panic comes over me," she said, but concluded that, "It was a lot fun."
"The best part is being like a kid again," Krystal Spencer, freshman communication studies major, said. "I haven't done this since I was 10."
"And it's free," Kevin Hodulik, freshman math major said. Both agreed, as College mascot Roscoe rode by sitting shotgun in a campus golf cart, that the bungee run was their favorite activity.
Vicki Moritz, sophomore French major, explained that this was not her first time experiencing the wonders of Lions' Fest. The good time she had last year was enough to bring her back again.
Dan Taddeo, junior biology major and member of RHA, was in charge of Lions' Fest. After two months of planning he was more than pleased with the results of this year's event.
This year New York Party Works supplied the inflatables and other attractions used at the festival, lending a hand in generating an even greater turnout than the previous year.
"It's a lot bigger this year," he said, "a lot more co-sponsors. We get a lot more participation that way."
The co-sponsors for this year were SGA, Prism, Order of the Golden Lion, Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Pi, Zeta Tau Alpha, Delta Zeta, DSP, junior and sophomore class councils, Inter-Greek Council, Lambda Tau Omega Sorority, Leadership Development Program, New Jersey Christian Fellowship and Sigma Tau Delta.
