Every February, the University of Denver Programming Board (DUPB) puts on a week of fun events culminating in a weekend at a mountain town in the Rockies. This tradition is known as Winter Carnival, and this year Winter Park was the destination of choice. Every student got a chance to enjoy activities both on and off the mountain in the first Winter Carnival in three years without any COVID-19 restrictions.
“As a senior, this was the first real Winter Carnival I’ve ever gotten to experience, so it was really cool to be able to plan that,” DUPB Traditions Committee Co-Chair Jacey Carlson said.
The dates for Winter Carnival, Feb. 6-12, were announced on Instagram on Jan. 6, with a how-to guide for registration, lodging and lift tickets released on Jan. 20. The events kicked off on Monday, Feb. 6, with a dinner in the Community Commons from 5:30 to 7 p.m. This gave students the opportunity to enjoy specialty food such as a potato bar, grilled cheese, tomato soup, falafel, mac and cheese and hot chocolate.
Each subsequent evening was more fun and featured games building up to a weekend in the mountains. Tuesday, Feb. 7 brought a “Ski Waxing Social” to the first floor of the Community Commons from 5-7 p.m. The event had free ski waxing for skis and snowboards, arcade games from Pac-Man to air hockey, a photo booth, and two food trucks for students to choose from.
“I think the events on-campus absolutely rocked, I loved the ski waxing with all the food trucks,” Carlson said. “I think overall it was really fun.”
Wednesday, Feb. 8 was entitled “Winter Thrift with a Sweet Twist,” taking place in the Community Commons Grand Forum from 5-8 p.m. Hot chocolate and Insomnia Cookies were provided to students milling myriad vendors to shop from as well as a raffle giveaway. Participants also had the opportunity for students to donate to a winter coat drive and contribute to the community.
The event on Thursday, Feb. 9 took place at the same location and time, but featured a chili cook-off and indoor laser tag called Beans and Laser Beams.
“Each day, [the Traditions sub-committees] got to pick what events they wanted to host,” freshman DUPB member Lilly Quast-Villafana said. “Some things we kept were traditions, like the chili-cook off and the ski waxing, but others were brand new like the laser tag; I don’t think we’ve done that before.”
As the weekend began, Friday, Feb. 10 from 8-10 a.m. was the BeansXWinterCarnival Send Off, which allowed students to get free coffee from Beans, the on-campus coffee shop, and a breakfast burrito on their way to the buses taking students to Winter Park.
The weekend on the mountain was filled with skiing and snow tubing, to which students received discounted tickets. They were free to spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday any way they liked, but were encouraged to stop by the DUPB “home base” at the Vintage Hotel, just a quick ride on the cabriolet away from the Winter Park Village.
“We actually had some of the highest attendance,” senior DUPB member River Thomas said. “This year, we had 2,040 people.”
On the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 11, DUPB had their first on-campus event during Winter Carnival for those who couldn’t make their way to the mountains. “Bob Ross Like A Boss” was a free guided painting session with mocktails from 2-4 p.m. Additionally, they hosted a DU Hockey and Pizza event for all those staying in Winter Park who wanted to watch the hockey game being played back in Denver at 6 p.m.
“We’ve realized the past couple of years that it’s really not accessible for everybody to go up the mountain, so we wanted to make sure that there’s fun things for everybody to do regardless,” Carlson said. “I think it was cool that we were able to have a full event that was really successful and completely sold out on campus.”
Overall, the tradition of Winter Carnival was well enjoyed this year by many students who had a plethora of chances to experience the events offered all week long.
“I think it was really fun,” Carlson said. “Skiing up there was a great weekend, it was pretty good quality snow, so I’m hoping a lot of people had a lot of fun during the on-mountain portion.”
