DU’s Programming Board (DUPB) will be hosting “The BIG Event” this Friday, April 26. The BIG Event is the largest Late Night event that DUPB has hosted and is a free event featuring food, music, dancing, games and prizes for all undergraduate and graduate students.
Late Night events are usually hosted by DUPB’s Late Night Committee and typically offer karaoke, trivia, open mic nights, board games and other activities at the Sidelines Pub in Driscoll Student Center between 7 and 11 p.m.
The evening will feature mobile food vendors, a Casino Night, Karaoke hosted by DUPB Late Night and a preview of The Hobbit by DUPB Films.
Although DUPB Late Night does plan events regularly throughout the year, DUPB co-president Ryan Schultz said the BIG Event is taking late night programming to a whole new level.
“As the name suggests, the BIG Event is going to be absolutely massive in scale, with dozens of events and activities running concurrently,” said Schultz.
Assistant Director of Student Activities Jill Duffy, who helped organize the event, said the goal for The BIG Event is to provide various activities that will appeal to all types of students.
“We also believe there aren’t that many activities that take place on campus during the weekends and later at night, so we wanted to provide this option for students,” said Duffy. “Events of this nature have been hugely successful at other campuses and we wanted to try it at DU.”
Staff members Jill Duffy and Patrick Stiver from Student Activities, Francisco Chacon from the Driscoll Student Center and Julie Weissbuch Allina from Health Promotions were all members of the planning committee, which has expanded and now includes over a dozen student organizations.
According to Duffy, the BIG Event’s activities were chosen based on a survey that was sent out to all undergraduate students in March. The survey asked a variety of questions about when students preferred to attend programs on campus and what types of activities they would be most likely to participate in.
“The BIG Event will take over the Driscoll Student Center, the Driscoll Lawn and Sturm Hall, so there will truly be something for everyone, with plenty of space for everyone too,” said Schultz.
A number of other student groups will be participating in the BIG Event, some will even be hosting their own activities.
For example, Duffy said the DU Tango Club will be teaching basic elements of tango, the Pioneer Breakers will be teaching break dancing and the DU Dance Team will be teaching a short dance routine similar to those they perform.
An inflatable laser tag course will also be on the Driscoll Lawn. It can hold two teams to play against each other, and each game will be 7-10 minutes long.
According to Duffy, almost everything during the event will be free. The only thing that students will have to pay for is the food offered by the food trucks; however, Duffy mentioned that students will have an opportunity to get a $5 voucher to use at the food trucks by completing a 5-question survey.
Schultz said that although DUPB Late Night attendance varies, it averages around 50 people per event. That said, Duffy mentioned that the planning committee hopes to have over 1,000 students come through the event over the course of the evening.
“The night is about getting Pioneers from across campus together for a great time,” said Schultz.
The BIG Event activities will start at 8 p.m and end at 2 a.m. Visit the BIG Event page at www.tinyurl.com/bigevent.du for a complete list of activities and food truck providers.
