As local businesses and high school students prepare for Green Key Weekend, residents of the town of Hanover will not be as much of a presence on campus as they tend to be over Homecoming and Winter Carnival -- a difference attributable to the insular focus of most of the weekend's activities.
"Your average town resident doesn't even know what's going on," Town Manager Julia Griffin said. "The only aspect about any weekend at Dartmouth that on average brings families out are sporting events and cultural events. Green Key doesn't have that kind of a ring to it."
High school students from Hanover and the surrounding area, however, are well aware of the festivities on-campus, especially those who have friends at the College. Rigel Cable '10 took classes at Dartmouth when he was a student at Hartford High School and explained that high school students used to receive "fake Dartmouth IDs" to check out books from the library. The IDs, which are no longer provided, closely resembled those of actual College students.
"I used it to get into parties, but I had to cover up part of it as I walked into a frat. It was really sketchy," Cable said.
Although Cable never attended events over Green Key weekend, his friends from high school that took classes at the College during Spring term frequently discussed the event.
"People would talk about it as a celebrating time," Cable said. "I imagined it to be some ruckus wild event just like all of the other Dartmouth parties that I went to."
Griffin cited the availability of alcohol to non-Dartmouth, underage students as a source of concern to the community, explaining that outdoor parties on Webster Avenue are accessible to anyone because of their many entry points. She was also uneasy about the visibility of alcohol over Green Key.
"We never like to see beer pong tables out in front of fraternities and sororities. It's not particularly the image you want to portray for little kids," Griffin said.
According to Griffin, the Hanover Police Department will employ one extra policeman to work overtime during the weekend and will strengthen its DUI surveillance.
Employees at Stinson's Village Store will also become more vigilant over Green Key weekend by checking the identification of everyone who comes into the store and ensuring that all drivers of vehicles containing alcohol are over 21.
"Some of our customers are pretty regular customers, but these weekends we card everybody. It doesn't matter if they come in five times a week or two times a week," store owner Jack Stinson said. "The liquor inspectors will be in town, and the Hanover police will be monitoring the parking lot, and they'll get them."
Stinson said that he expects to see an increase in the sale of kegs and will offer specials on beer and Mike's Hard Lemonade.
Everything But Anchovies owner Maureen Bogosian associates Green Key with "late nights" and anticipates a 30 percent increase in sales over the weekend. Extra staff and extra food will help manage the influx in business.
The Hanover Inn claims that it will not be as busy as it is during Homecoming and Commencement weekends, but many rooms are still booked for Green Key.
"One thing that happens that we really like is that alums tend to come back and visit for the weekend, and often they stay here," restaurant manager Dick DuMez said. "It doesn't double our business by any means, but we do see some increase, and we're always glad to have it."
Other Hanover restaurants look forward to the increase in business that Green Key will bring. Doug House, the manager of Molly's Restaurant and Bar, plans to overstaff the restaurant to decrease each employee's workload and offer specials that will attract out-of-town visitors.
Skip Symanski, the general manager at The Canoe Club, predicted a 10 percent increase in business, but the restaurant's employees are prepared for the extra customers.
"We know it's coming, we are staffed and we look forward to it," Symanski said. "The busier it is, the better."
