As a young child living in Hanover in the 1960's, Bryan Smith always looked forward to Winter Carnival.
However, like so many other locals, today the manager of International DVD & Poster and resident of Lebanon, N.H., believes recent Winter Carnivals have paled in comparison to those of the past.
"It used to be one of the highlights of the winter," he said. "Now, not so much."
The changing demographics of Hanover may be the source of dwindling enthusiasm about the Carnival, Smith said.
"There used to be more people living in town because they could afford to, and my grandparents lived right on campus," he said. "Now, the college has taken up a lot of housing, so you don't have as many younger kids around."
Jay Campion, a fourth-generation Hanover resident and local business owner, also remembers when Winter Carnival was more of a "focal point of campus and town life" than it is now.
Today, a variety of dynamics have changed the nature of Winter Carnival, Campion said. Interstate highways have connected Hanover to major cities like Boston and New York, so local residents are not as reliant on the College for concerts and other cultural events, he said.
"Things changed for all good reasons," Campion said. "It was just a different physical environment."
Campion said that during his youth, the town had a "much more diverse socioeconomic environment," and many people both lived and worked in Hanover, he added.
"Things changed for a number of different reasons," he said. "Some were out of control of the College or anyone else."
When Campion was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, Winter Carnival was host to a variety of activities that no longer exist, such as intramural skiing competitions in Oakridge, N.H. Intramural hockey competitions drew crowds to Occom Pond, and people stayed for "out evenings" that included music and food, he said.
For Wallace Farr '42, a Hanover resident, the highlight of Winter Carnival was the "great influx of lovely ladies" from various women's colleges who arrived in droves.
The presence of women improved College traditions greatly, according to Farr.
"You stood out there and it was very cold, but there were all these beautiful girls in colorful ski clothes," he said.
Farr also noted the outside interest Winter Carnival once garnered.
"It drew a lot of non-College people from all over the country, coming to see the ski jump and statues," he said. "It got great national attention. All the news reels came."
While some practices fell out of style with the College's move to coeducation in 1972, many aspects of the Carnival Weekend have not changed since Farr's undergraduate years.
"Not too many people went to classes," he said. "People didn't get much sleep."
