Dorm life at Asbury is full of many great hall events that each building has the opportunity to plan and host. This year, Kresge had their event happening at the same time as the fifth annual Harvest Festival, which was sponsored by Student Activities Cabinet (SAC), and the Aldersgate Chili Cookoff. The festival is open to all of campus and the community.
On the Aldersgate Green, guests were greeted by fun lights and music playing while exploring all the outdoor activities. There were several tables with crafts and painting, as well as hot drinks and snacks. There are also vendors with various homemade crafts and goods to sell, all of them students.
Another exciting part of the event was the Aldersgate Chili Cookoff. This contest was open to all of campus, with students entering traditional chilis as well as nontraditional. Each guest of the festival was given the opportunity to try them and give their opinions.
The main attraction was Kresge Kandyland. Every year, each dorm has a hall event open to all of campus. This one was Kresge’s, a life size board game with an overall theme. Each hall comes together to decorate and show off for the rest of the student body.
When asked about the planning of the event, RA Rebecca Lewis said, “It is our biggest event of the year and requires a lot of coordination between halls, so a lot of prep work is necessary. We started planning by talking about what theme we wanted to follow this year. Pretty quickly, we came to the unanimous decision to go back to our roots and celebrate the actual Candyland boardgame.”
After waiting in a brief line outside, guests went inside the building in groups of three to six. The first hall was The Orchard. Covered in greenery and colorful decorations, guests were offered caramel apple slices. It was here that each group was given a miniature Candyland map, with instructions to collect stickers from every hall they go through. The whole building was charted with colorful squares symbolizing the path that each person had to take.
The next hall was the Peppermint Forest. Guests were asked to go through an obstacle course in order to see a performance done by a peppermint fairy ballerina. The space was decorated with red and white streamers and balloons. The Gumdrop Pass was full of fun colorful decorations as well as lights that set the mood really well. The game of this hall was a cup toss. Guests were able to compete on teams to earn pieces of bubble gum.
Taking a bit of a detour, the colorful square path led to the Licorice Forest, by far the most menacing of the halls.The lighting was dark and tinted purple and red. The activity here was another obstacle course, where each guest had to crawl under a long tunnel to collect snakes.
Next was Gramma’s Nut House. This hall was delightful, decorated skillfully like an old women’s home with a lot of hidden details for people to find. Guests were tasked to find the ingredients of Gramma’s famous peanut brittle, all hidden around the room.
After that, the Lollipop Woods was covered in balloons and colorful streamers. The attraction here was a ring toss, with Dum Dums as prizes. Next was the Ice Cream Sea, where guests were invited to throw darts at balloons. The room was full of bright white streamers and ice cream themed decorations.
Lastly, there was the Chocolate Swamp. The floor was covered in balloons symbolizing M&Ms and guests asked to find the Skittles within the piles. The reward was a chocolate fountain and pretzels for dipping. After this, the path led to the Candy Castle, where refreshments and a cotton candy machine was offered.
The events happening at the same time were both places that brought the community of Asbury together. Lewis said about those who helped put on Kandyland, “Overall, preparing for Kresge Kandyland is super exciting because we get to see the different skills and talents of all the RAs combine to help put on a fantastic event. It’s a big task, but we’re all a lot closer by the end of it.” The events are both classic staples of Asbury culture and something that students look forward to every year.
Photo courtesy of Alanna May.
