By ROLLIN HU and PETER JI For The News-Letter
Hoptoberfest, a week of activities and free giveaways sponsored by the student organization of the same name, kicked off during the evening of Monday, Oct. 5 in the Levering Courtyard. Hoptoberfest is dedicated to celebrating the month of October on campus.
The kickoff featured attractions such as fireworks, a DJ and the Entertainer’s Club. There were also free giveaways such as pizza, yogurt, sparklers and shirts. Shirts went quickly, leaving some students disappointed. Freshman Sam Huang commented on what several students took to be a misfortune.
“In all honesty, I only came for the free shirt but there was no free shirt,” Huang said. “But I’m glad I came anyway because it’s very exciting.”
Freshman Ting Fang also remarked that she was disappointed about the lack of free shirts but admitted that there were positive aspects to the event.
“I’m just disappointed that they ran out of shirts. The music’s awesome. The sparklers are great,” Fang said. “Some improvements for next year would be more T-shirts and maybe other fun activities because some people are just standing around.”
Despite the lack of shirts, students were excited about the free giveaways provided at several Hoptoberfest events.
“To be honest, I’m just here to get some free pizza. And I like the sparklers,” freshman Calvin Qian said.
Senior Doran Walston shared reactions about the event. As a senior, she said this kickoff was an improvement over previous years’ activities.
“I’m definitely excited to see what events are coming on during the week,” Walston said, “Definitely for a kickoff, this is one of the better ones I’ve seen.”
Fire spinner Emma Lee of the Entertainer’s Club also spoke positively of the kickoff party.
“I think it’s nice to see all the students come together... in a physical space together other than class,” Lee said.
At the same time in Levering Hall, there was a mulled wine session led by Director of Dining Programs Bill Connor where he talked about the tradition of wine mulling.
He described wine mulling as heating wine in a container mixed with spices. He said this wine is served on special occasions during the fall or winter holidays. Monday’s session used Aviary Cabernet Sauvignon wine, a brand originating from California’s Napa Valley. The wine was heated in a pot and spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves were added.
“We gathered into groups of five and listened to an intro given by Bill who instructed us on how to make mulled wine,” senior Bria Hamilton said.
Senior Jason Sciamanna describes how the wine tasted at the end of the process.
“When you do these steps, the alcoholic taste goes away,” Sciamanna said, “I’m not an avid wine drinker, but I still thought that it was good.”
Hoptoberfest also organized a pie-eating contest on Tuesday, Oct. 6 outside of the Brody Learning Center. In addition to the contest, there was free pie and free T-shirts. At this event as well there was some discontent over the distribution of free shirts.
“There are always huge crowds of people, so I mostly came for the pie,” sophomore Amy Monasterio said. “So far I really like it. It’s really nice of them to give out so much free food.”
Freshman Hayden Millington participated in the pie-eating contest and enjoyed the event.
“It was a little overwhelming at first, very intimidating. There is definitely a technique to getting into the pie, and it was a lot of fun,” Millington said.
Junior Matt Brown also enjoyed the pie contest, but remarked upon some improvements that could have been made to make the event more exciting.
“I liked the pie eating contest. I thought it could be a little better, but overall it was good,” Brown said, “Maybe have it tiered or ranked so they could try to get different groups involved to try to get a prize for their group. I think it’d be something that’d work better for the future.”
Brown also indicated his excitement to see the events planned for the remainder of the week.
“I think it has a lot of potential to be a lot better than the other years they’ve had,” Brown said. “They’re trying to make it into a miniature Spring Fair, so I’m excited to see what happens.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 7, therapy dogs of all breeds, including Labrador and Golden Retrievers, came to the Keyser Quad for the highly anticipated Stress on Paws event. Students had the opportunity to play with and pet the dogs for two hours. In addition there were caramel apples provided by Hopkins Housing as well as more free shirts by the Hoptoberfest staff.
Again some students expressed discontent at the conditions in which the free shirts were distributed at this event. However, the presence of puppies tended to brighten students’ spirits. Sophomore Kelsey Wadill praised Stress on Paws.
“They [the puppies] are really adorable and I like how [there are] so many different kinds of them,” Wadill said. I wish there were more though because there’s a large crowd and not enough time for everyone to get to pet them.”
Staff members of Hoptoberfest have declined to comment upon the remarks made about the shirt distribution and the overall organization of the events.
Hoptoberfest will continue to have events for the remainder of the week. On Thursday there will be a concert by “We the Kings” on the Beach. On Friday there will be events like “Fight Like a Girl” and “Levering Live”. More information can be found on their Facebook page.
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