A defining Dartmouth tradition, Winter Carnival has had many faces in its 92 year history. Starting as a humble field day, Carnival has evolved into one of the biggest events on campus and has included athletic competitions, balls, beauty pageants and even TV commercials in the years since its founding in 1910.
Winter Carnival first came into being as the brainchild of Fred Harris '11. Harris, who also began the Dartmouth Outing Club, thought Dartmouth students should take advantage of the school's prime location for winter sports and in 1909 voiced his opinion in an editorial that ran in The Dartmouth, calling for a "meet and field day" to showcase outdoor activities.
Shortly thereafter on Feb. 26, 1910, the first Winter Carnival, though it was not known by that name until several years later, was held near Occom Pond.
The activities included skiing and snow shoeing races, a hockey game and basketball.
Unfortunately, Harris could not attend due to a knee sprain he received escaping South Fayerweather dormitory, which burned to the ground shortly before the event.
By the next year, social activities were included, and the festivities began to take their present form.
In 1925, Carnival was given its first theme and snow sculpture, two components that have come to symbolize the holiday. The theme was "Jutenheim Iskarneval," in celebration of the Scandinavian carnivals it was modeled after, and the snow sculpture featured a medieval castle.
Snow sculptures quickly became popular, and in 1927 fraternity houses began constructing them on their lawns, each vying for the best creation.
The sculpture on the Green, though, remained the largest attraction, and has featured everything from a dragon that actually breathed fire to a 47-foot snowman that set the record as the largest snowman built.
By the 1950s, the Carnival had become a huge tourist attraction, due in part to the large numbers of women who came to the then non-coed campus to take part in the revelry.
The crowning of the Queen of the Snows was a hallmark of the festivities in those days, and ice shows and musicals entertained guests who came from all over the region. The 1952 Carnival resulted in an eight-mile traffic jam to get into Hanover.
National attention has been drawn to Carnival as well. A 1939 film titled "Winter Carnival" was co-written by Budd Schulberg '36 and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
While visiting Carnival, Fitzgerald spent so much time downing liquor with brothers at Alpha Delta and Psi Upsilon fraternities that Schulberg fired him from the project in an embarrassing scene outside the Hanover Inn.
Playboy did a "Playmate of the Month" feature at Dartmouth during the 1971 festivities, paying the brothers of Bones Gate half a keg to sculpt a statue of the Playmate on their lawn.
Commercials, including spots for Pepsi and Campbell's Soup, have also been filmed at Carnivals, and in 1960 CBS shot footage during the events.
Many traditions from earlier Carnivals, such as the snow sculptures, continue today, but some have fallen by the wayside.
Since coeducation came to Dartmouth, beauty pageants no longer have a place in the festivities. Ski-jumping and ski-joring, in which a horde of participants were pulled on skis behind five horses, are also no longer part of the activities.
New traditions are added to Carnival, too. The Polar Bear Swim was started by Rachael Gilliar '98 in 1994. Students line up to take a chilly plunge into Occom Pond, weather permitting.
Outside events have also played a part in shaping Winter Carnival during previous years.
Carnival has been cancelled twice, in 1933 to protest Prohibition, though students gave in and held Carnival two weeks before the ban on alcohol was finally repealed, and in 1943 because of World War II.
In 1979, students painted the snow sculpture red, green and black to protest the lack of minority recruitment efforts practiced by the College, and in 1991 students threw paint on the sculpture and painted a large peace sign in front of Dartmouth Hall to protest the Gulf War.
Recently it has been said that the size of Carnival has declined, due to the many other activities available to students and the shift in the event's focus from the whole town to Dartmouth students.
Hanover now hosts its own ice celebration by Occom Pond, with an ice castle for children to play in.
Whether it has changed or not, though, Carnival is still a beloved Dartmouth tradition.
