The Winter Carnival Council announced in an email to campus on Friday afternoon that this year’s Carnival will focus on events other than the traditional snow sculpture on the Green.
As reasons for its decision, the Council cited limited snowfall, declining student participation and a lack of student leadership to plan this year’s sculpture. Instead, the Council will concentrate on planning other traditional events such as the Polar Bear Swim, human dog sled race and ice sculpture contest. The email stopped short of officially declaring that the snow sculpture has been cancelled, instead stating that the Council will "focus [its] efforts and funding on the planning of Carnival events that foster broad participation from the student body."
Last year, the Council decided to cancel the snow sculpture due to poor weather conditions and lack of student participation. In response to the news that there would be no official sculpture, a group of roughly 30 students gathered on the Green the night before the Carnival began and spent six hours creating a sculpture of the Cat in the Hat’s hat.
The Council also faced difficulties recruiting student volunteers in 2014 and 2015, though ultimately they were able to find enough support to sculpt a throne and an uncopyrighted superhero, respectively.
The snow sculpture has been a Dartmouth tradition since 1925, when H. Pennington Haile ’24 constructed a snow castle in the middle of the Green.
