Living up to this year’s theme, “Let Your Imagination Ride”, the Thurtene Carnival provided yet another exciting weekend of rides, food, games and fun.

Washington University’s Thurtene is the largest student-run carnival in the nation and drew a crowd of over 120,000 people from the University and the surrounding community.

The Thurtene Carnival represented the combined efforts of the thirteen members of the Thurtene Honorary, who planned the event throughout the entire school year; fraternities and sororities, who built fa‡ades and performed plays; and numerous student groups, like Ashoka and EnCouncil, who sold food and games.

The fa‡ades and booths were ornate and ranged from a TexMex restaurant to a Super Mario Brothers game.

Delta Gamma and Sigma Nu worked together to build a southern courthouse and began writing their show, a legal drama, in October.

“The jury gets to decide the verdict, so audience members will choose the ending. We wrote two different endings [for that purpose],” said Christine Holladay, a senior and co-director in Delta Gamma.

Though Delta Gamma and Sigma Nu were plagued with a couple of injuries that affected members of the cast (one had surgery on his knee and the other was in the hospital with mono), they were still able to have everything ready in time to entertain their audiences.

Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) chose to build a Super Mario fa‡ade, complete with a bar-b-que and toadstool chairs. They advertised their fa‡ade by carrying around stuffed turtle shells.

“We have been working on [this fa‡ade] for most of the semester. We started the design over winter break and drew up plans throughout the semester,” said Richard Ockers, a sophomore in TKE.

Will Jordan, a senior and one of the Thurtene chairs for TKE, thought that the carnival went smoothly this year.

“I really think it’s a good year. I have seen a lot of dedication from the other booths. Everyone was way ahead of schedule this year, and everyone [did] an amazing job,” said Jordan.

Sarah Lipton, a sophomore and the internal chair of Alpha Epsilon Phi who designed the T-shirts for the carnival, worked hard on the TexMex fa‡ade that her sorority co-built with members of Alpha Epsilon Pi.

“[I have] been so devoted to it, and it has been really fun to work on,” said Lipton.

The net proceeds from this year’s carnival benefited St. Louis Scores, an after school program that helps children to fight obesity and gain literacy skills through playing soccer and reading poetry.

Filipe Macia, the public relations co-chair of the Thurtene Honorary, said that the organization provides a positive and supportive environment for the children.

“We went and volunteered, refereed their games and did poetry with them. They are just as enthusiastic about their poetry as they are with their soccer. They cheer each other on and they are really just amazing kids,” said Macia.

This year’s carnival took place in the North Brookings parking lot instead of in the parking lot near the Athletic Complex, due to the start of construction in Mudd Field for a new parking garage.

Macia thought that the North Brookings location was positive because of the opportunity for increased visibility.

“[We] have a lot more visible access from Skinker and a lot more awareness from the community,” said Macia.

At the end of the carnival, several awards are presented to the fraternities and sororities and other student groups for various categories.

This year’s coveted Burmeister Cup for Overall Excellence, encompassing both fa‡ade construction and skit production, went to Delta Gamma and Sigma Nu for their southern courthouse and skit replete with drama, tap dancing and a participating audience jury.

“We won [the Burmeister] two years ago and we owe a lot to the seniors this year who put in their time to really get everything done,” said senior and Sigma Nu member Nick Niles.

“It was amazing how hard everyone worked on Thurtene this year,” said sophomore and Sigma Nu member Kevin Murphy. “I saw the show five times and everytime they managed to knock my socks off.”

Award for best food went to TKE and their extremely detailed of Super Mario-meets-barbeque booth.

“It’s amazing,” said freshman and TKE member Jon Friedman (aka Mario). “After our streak [of winning best food] was broken last year, we went all out this year. Overall I ate a little too much.”

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