Terriers from near and far will gather for competitive team ice sculpting, a Quidditch tournament and other activities prior to the men’s ice hockey game this weekend at Winterfest.
Winterfest, hosted by The Boston University Alumni Association, will begin Friday at 7:30 p.m. with a performance of “The Postman Always Rings Twice” presented by the College of Fine Arts.
However, winter weekend is not just for alumni, said alumnus Sarah MacElroy, a School of Education alumna and the assistant director of programs and events at the Office of Alumni Relations.
“We wanted to have a weekend event that was similar to alumni weekend, but make it a little more family friendly and not specifically just for alumni,” MacElroy said.
Teams can make ice sculptures on Saturday morning in the space between Agganis Arena and the Fitness and Recreation Center, and an ice sculptor will help to carve out the 10 blocks of ice, MacElroy said. As the teams help out with the final touches, alumni and guests will vote for the winner.
“Last year, a group did a phenomenal dragon, and we’ve had penguins holding their eggs. Oh god, it has been very, very creative,” said Carolyn Cohen, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences ’65 alumnus. “Sometimes we have BU chasing BC, and sometimes we have castles.”
The weekend will also feature a lecture series, entitled Enchanted Electives, which will include topics ranging from Hollywood films to the mystery of magic.
TEDxBU is another educational component of the weekend. Students, alumni and faculty will speak about new ideas and the power to change attitudes on Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. in the Jacob Sleeper Auditorium.
New to this year’s Winterfest is the Quidditch tournament, a match between teams from BU, Harvard University, Emerson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University, which will be held on Nickerson Field on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Alumni will also be able to tour the college and use the Fitness and Recreation Center.
“Many can’t believe it’s the same school they graduated from,” said David Hollowell, president of the BU Alumni Council and Graduate School of Management alum ‘74.
The tailgate before the hockey game is another popular event, Cohen said.
“You got to go to the tailgate because you have to have a ‘hockey puck,’” she said. “Chocolate cake dipped in chocolate, a specialty.”
Winterfest is expected to attract over a 1,000 attendees, but the Alumni Association is hoping for more.
“We’ve been growing every year,” Hollowell said. “It’d be nice to see if we could get up to 2,000 people there, but that’d be a bit optimistic.”
Cohen said that alumni should be ready for a different type of celebration.
“It’s a special kind of alumni. For reunion, people come back as ‘reunioners.’ This time, people come back as families. It’s very different,” she said.
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