The 91st Winter Carnival is upon us, a time when all Dartmouth snow-lovers, partiers and tradition fanatics will find much to enjoy.
It's one of the most cherished get-togethers in Dartmouth life, from the Polar Bear Swim, the snow sculpture and ski races to the innumerable parties Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
For many, the essence of the winter weekend continues through traditions. But these days, some might be surprised to learn what a truly momentous occasion the carnival was in past years.
"Carnival has changed a lot over the years. Some of it is a result of our new social options and past social options, but I think overall the spirit of carnival has carried on," Amish Parashar '03, this year's Winter Carnival co-chair, said.
The whole tradition was famously begun in 1910 by Fred Harris '11, the same man who founded the Dartmouth Outing Club.
Harris said he believed there was more to winter than sitting indoors, complaining about the weather and, thus, he set about to organize sporting and social events to convince other Dartmouth students of the joys of winter in New Hampshire.
Harris, however, was not able to attend the historic occasion because he had sprained his knee escaping a fire in South Fayerweather dormitory, which burned to the ground shortly before the carnival.
For a long time, the carnival continued as the unequivocal highlight of winter athletics at Dartmouth.
"People would line up all along the golf course for the ski jump," said Athletic Director Dick Jaeger '59, recalling his days as an undergraduate, when ski jumping was an NCAA-sponsored event.
The Dartmouth student who amassed the most points over four skiing events -- cross country, jumping, downhill, slalom -- was declared the Ski-Meister, Jaeger said.
"It was the only show in town in those days... Given the greater number of teams these days, there are always some teams out of town. But in those days all the teams could schedule home games [on carnival Weekend]," Jaeger said.
Women at Carnival
Less than a year after Harris' first carnival, Dartmouth men organized a Winter Carnival Formal and turned what was to be a weekend of outdoorsy winter high-jinks quickly into an excuse to invite women up to Hanover.
In a few short years Winter Carnival grew to be one of the campus' biggest attractions.
The mood was undeniably festive in 1923, as The Dartmouth's "Outdoor frolic starts gay carnival weekend" headline attested.
In 1952, an eight-mile long traffic jam blocked the roads into Hanover for the carnival weekend, not to mention the many who came to Dartmouth by train.
That year, Bob Daly '54 had seven dates for Winter Carnival weekend, all winners in the "Why I want to come to Winter Carnival with Bob Daly" essay contest. Unbeknownst to Daly, his friends had sent entry forms to Smith College, Wellesley College, Skidmore College and Vassar College.
Of course, the selection of the Carnival Queen was a central event in many a historical Winter Carnival.
In 1936, Ann Hopkins, then-College President Ernest Hopkins' daughter, was crowned Winter Carnival Queen. Two years earlier she had been nominated for the regal position but turned it town, saying she was "so young, mother might not like it."
On Feb. 11, 1970, Deborah Noyes, then 20 and a junior at Skidmore College, was selected Dartmouth's 60th Carnival Queen. Skydiver John Carlson parachuted from an altitude of 3500 feet on that Friday night to bring Miss Noyes her crown.
Barbara Jean Harris, 1968 Dartmouth Winter Carnival Queen, came all the way from sunny California to the "fairy-tale" setting of Hanover, NH, on money provided by the sale of the blood of her date's fraternity brothers.
Soon after Dartmouth went coeducational, the Carnival Queen competition became a thing of the past.
Tradition
Other rituals soldiered on, however. The annual snow sculpture on the Green, for one, has been a touchstone of student and community interaction since 1925 -- a barometer of Winter Carnival spirit, perhaps.
In 1968, The Dartmouth wrote of a poignant moment in carnival sculpture history: "The most emotional statement made about carnival must be the sign that appeared in 1942, 25 years ago, beside a lonely statue. 'Here lies Winter Carnival who Died for Victory.'"
Since the late 80s, however, perhaps due to busier weekday schedules or global warming, the sculpture tradition has faltered somewhat.
On Jan. 29, 1990, one week after the now-popular music group Phish played an epic concert in Webster Hall, The Dartmouth wrote that "only about two or three students a day gather on the Green to build the sculpture... apathy is perhaps due to the lack of snow over the past few years." This was to be a common sentiment throughout the 90s.
Denny Shea '60, Winter Carnical chair for the 1960 carnival, told The Dartmouth in 1990 that apathy was never a problem in the past. In the weeks preceding the carnival, more than 50 people would work on the sculpture each afternoon.
"We'd buy a keg and have it out on the Green to encourage a group to go out there and work for about three hours," Shea said.
"The weather is ruining all my plans for building the sculpture," Patricia Bankowski '95, head of the 1995 Winter Carnival council told The Dartmouth at the time, as warm weather and rain melted the snow and hindered the sculpture.
But even when work on the sculpture had come to a complete halt, Bankowski said, "Traditions don't die at Dartmouth ... We will have a sculpture."
In 1997, the sculpture for the Medieval Carnival collapsed, and in 1998 the sculpture for the Roaring 20s Carnival was never completed.
Carnival Copycats
Despite the apparent slackening of the Dartmouth winter rituals, other groups have taken the Dartmouth tradition and created their own imitation Winter Carnivals.
In 1994, Brandon Del Pozo '96 wrote of his distress that another school, State University of New York at Binghamton, had taken up its own Winter Carnival: "If we can't even have a really good Winter Carnival ourselves, what kind of carnival could we expect from a public university with[a pretense] of greatness?" he wrote.
"In any event, they had some ice sculptures that looked really silly, but we can't blame them, because they haven't been doing it for decades and decades."
"The bottom line is that I don't understand why Binghamton had its first Winter Carnival. Perhaps this is because I don't understand why we have one these days."
The fall of carnival?
Hanover Town Administrator Julia Griffin told The Dartmouth that she feels the size of Winter Carnival is declining.
"I've just gotten the impression that [the carnival] is not as big an event as it used to be... particularly the ice and snow sculpture, which was something the community could connect with," she said.
Indeed, Hanover locals have cooked up their own replacement festivity, called the Occom Pond Party, to supplant the lack of Winter Carnival activities open to the public.
Griffin again emphasized the role of the snow sculptures in locals' enjoyment of the tradition.
"There used to be a much more significant snow sculpture that the whole community just adored, especially the kids," she said.
"In recent years, as people get busier and busier, it seems the snow sculpture suffered... So, the town has created its own sort of 'companion celebrations' that involve ice and snow."
To wit, the Occom Pond Party has an ice sculpture contest, live music, as well as a "very complicated ice castle with a slide for kids to slide down," Griffin said.
Griffin credited the creation of the Occom Pond Party, already in its fourth year, to Bill Young, a Hanover resident and physician at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
Asked whether decreased holiday revenues have been reported by Hanover business owners, Griffin responded, "I haven't heard of any disappointments," though she noted that the Hanover Police Department "would tend to be more active" than usual during the weekend.
This year's Carnival, particularly in the sculpture area, aims to make up some lost of this lost ground, according to the comments of Raymond R. Gilliar '01, senior Chairperson of the 2001 Winter Carnival.
"The theme [2001: A Winter Odyssey] is great because it is replete with imagery. It has even inspired this year's drag ball theme, "2001: A Drag Oddity," which references both Stanley Kubrick's film and David Bowie's music," Gilliar said.
The athletics arena, too, promises excitement this Winter Carnival. Men's basketball plays against Princeton and Penn State (women are away) and men's hockey plays Harvard and Brown (women are at Wisconsin).
"You get as many athletic events as you can[scheduled] -- like the ski team, usually at the Skiway," Jaeger said.
"The DOC is heart and soul of the carnival," Jaeger continued. "They've done a great job with snow shoeing."
