Hoptoberfest, a week-long event dedicated to fall-themed festivities and free giveaways, was held for the fourth time at Hopkins from Oct. 3-7. Arranged by the student organization of the same name, Hoptoberfest provided an opportunity for students to take time out of their schedules and celebrate autumn.
Freshman Maya Foster explained how Hoptoberfest was a source of relief and free food for busy, stressed students in the middle of midterm season.
“I got a chance to have free ice cream and make caramel apples, which I haven’t done since childhood,” Foster wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “I liked how they brought festivity to campus when it’s hard to get into the spirit during midterms.”
The kick-off took place at the Levering courtyard from 7 to 8 p.m. In addition to free food such as ice cream, Otterbein cookies and Dunkin Donuts, students were able to get sparklers and shirts bearing the Hoptoberfest logo. The shirts were a cause for excitement for many students, and attracted long lines.
Shirts were distributed the following day at the Pumpkin Patch, where students got to pick up pumpkins at the Beach and enjoy fall-themed food such as pumpkin pie and apple cider.
However, the demand for shirts surpassed supply and some of the students who came, such as Foster, left empty-handed.
“The handing out of the free t-shirts was really disorganized,” Foster wrote. “People were pushing over each other just to get one. There was a limited amount of free stuff compared to the amount of people who came.”
Sophomore Morgan Balster also found the distributing of free shirts to be chaotic but noted that it was worth it to get a shirt in the end.
“I thought the way they gave [the shirts] at the kickoff was poorly handled,” Balster said. “They made us wait forever, then there was a massive mob of people, but it was worth it because I got one.”
However, the lack of shirts and the huge lineups proved an unexpected bonus for some students like freshman Victoria Li, who went to get a shirt at the kick-off.
“My friends and I were made to dance to get a shirt,” Li said. “So it was like a dance contest, and whoever danced the hardest got their shirt. I really enjoyed that.”
Though the turnout for the events was large, some students had difficulty coming to the events they wanted to go to, as many of them were scheduled during late morning and early afternoon hours, when classes were taking place. Freshman A. Brandt Matthews wished that the events had been scheduled later in the day.
“The timing of the events was very difficult with my schedule,” Matthews said. “The only reason I got to go to the Pumpkin Patch was cause I got let out of class a bit early. I had no midterms that week, but all the events were at the same time during the day. It was always when I had class, during the morning, and that was kind of rough.”
Foster, who did have midterms during Hoptoberfest, was also able to make it to only a couple of the events.
“Maybe there could be more evening events, because that time of day doesn’t conflict with my schedule as much,” she wrote. “I wish we could have the event held over a month instead of just a week.”
Hoptoberfest did feature events in the evening, some of which were not open to students under the age of 21, because of the inclusion of alcohol.
Two of these events were the mulled wine event, which took place at the Glass Pavilion, and the Beer Tasting event in the Gilman Atrium. These provided an enjoyable opportunity for older students such as senior Diana Lee.
“I’m no connoisseur of beer, but it was interesting to taste the different varieties,” Lee wrote in an email to The News-Letter.
Hoptoberfest concluded with a concert by the pop band Parachute on the Beach on Friday afternoon. The turnout was large with students coming to hear the band or buy food from some of the food trucks present. Parents and family of students were also able to enjoy the concert, since it was the beginning of Family Weekend.
“[The most memorable part of Hoptoberfest] was definitely dancing front row in the Parachute concert with my mom,” Li said. “She grabbed me and dragged me to the front and she made me dance. Also I know Parachute, so it was really exciting to see them play. I’d forgotten how good the lead was. It was just a really nice, relaxing way to spend a Friday afternoon with my parents and my friends.”
“We believe this year's Hoptoberfest was a great success,” she wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “We hope that students had their weeks brightened a little more through Hoptoberfest. We understand how hard it is to juggle academics with everything else, especially for freshmen who are just coming to Hopkins, so we wanted to remind everyone that this campus has resources and opportunities just for its students.”
In terms of improvements for the future, Wang noted that Hoptoberfest should try to have more supplies and giveaways available for students.
“Our biggest concern is always how to get more students involved and how to increase attendance at our events,” she wrote. “We are hoping that next year we will have the resources to expand because this year we ran through all of our supplies early for almost every event … A big challenge is making sure events are set-up on time and that everybody has a chance to partake in an event or receive items from events.”
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