Caption: Juniors in ThurtenE help students from Strike Magazine put together their booth in preparation for the carnival this weekend. (Aliana Mediratta | Student Life)

On a sunny Saturday afternoon last April, thousands of WashU students and St. Louis residents were milling around the parking lot outside of Simon Hall — which had been newly transformed into the annual ThurtenE carnival — when chaos broke out. 

Multiple fights involving non-WashU students led the WashU Police Department to halt admissions and eventually evacuate the carnival lot. Videos of one fight began to circulate,depicting a group of people kicking someone on the ground,as well as clips of hundreds of people running across Mudd Field to evacuate.

Multiple buildings on campus, including the nearby DUC, were closed off to the public for hours. Rumors about guns and other weapons started immediately and spread quickly, though it was later confirmed by WashU administrators and ThurtenE members that no weapons were present.

The 2024 carnival was cut short on the second day after fights broke out, causing the WashU Police Department to evacuate the event. This was the first time the carnival has ever been cancelled midway through for a non-weather-related issue. (Alan Knight | Student Life)

The final day of the carnival, Sunday, April 21st, was cancelled in an email to the student body from Anna Gonzalez, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, who cited public safety concerns. Student groups were reimbursed by the school for the money they lost out on at their booths. A week later, the fights at ThurtenE were brought up again as part of the reasoning for moving the annual WILD concert indoors, in addition to an incoming storm. 

By any metric, it was not the outcome that the 13 juniors in charge of the ThurtenE carnival had envisioned after months of meticulous and intensive planning.

One year later, a new class of juniors has taken over the parking lot for setup week, spending 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. outside Simon Hall to coordinate the arrival of carnival rides and supervise student groups as they build their booths. 

With a few policy changes for student safety, a record-high 43 student groups renting booth space, and a big emphasis on having a good time, ThurtenE is setting their sights on bringing back a safe and fun community event this weekend. 

“We’ve been doing this carnival for 90 years,” junior Emily Cole, Public Relations and Marketing co-chair, said. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to make sure this carnival happens again in the safest way possible.”

The ThurtenE Honorary has existed, in various forms, since it was formed as a secret society in 1904. Around the same time, a men’s honorary society called Pralma began to host a circus festival called “Younivee Surkuss,” featuring rides, a vaudeville show, and one year, a silent film.

In 1935, ThurtenE officially took over the carnival and sold 15,000 game tickets at five cents each. Over the course of 90 years, the carnival has only been cancelled three times —  twice during the pandemic and once in 1943 due to World War II. Last year was the first time the carnival had ever been shut down midway through for non-weather-related reasons.

The carnival features rides, games, and food, and draws thousands each year. (Sam Powers | Student Life)

In many ways, the task of preventing fights is nebulous, especially given the fact that there were no weapons involved that could have been screened out with additional security. This year, though, the group is implementing some changes they hope will reduce the possibility of another public safety issue. 

“We’re working very closely with the WashU police on this,” junior Krish Bathija, public relations and marketing co-chair, said. “They really emphasized how they want to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”

There will be a separate entrance and exit to avoid big crowds forming, a no-bag policy except for medical use, and a requirement that minors be accompanied by a parent or guardian (this does not apply to WashU first-years who are under 18).

“We’re not trying to prevent groups of people under 18 from coming to the carnival, we’re minimizing the risk of them coming in unsupervised and doing anything [they shouldn’t be],” Bathija said. 

Clubs can rent different sized booths at the event as a fundraiser, with past years seeing students run dunk tanks and selling food. ThurtenE provides the necessary materials, but the students build and decorate the wooden booths themselves during the week leading up to the carnival. 

Student groups who are renting booths have always been required to complete online training modules in order to use the construction tools necessary to build their booths. This year, in addition, ThurtenE has added a mandatory emergency training, run by WUPD and ThurtenE’s internal business director, junior Grady Freeman, for students running booths to learn how to respond in the event of violence, a missing person, or a natural disaster.

The net proceeds from the carnival are donated to a different St. Louis-based nonprofit each year — last year was Ranken Jordan, a pediatric bridge hospital for children transitioning home after long hospital stays. This year, ThurtenE’s community partner is the Little Bit Foundation, which helps break cycles of poverty by giving resources to underserved children. 

“They provide essential resources like school supplies, clothing, books, health services, and mentorship to ensure that every child has the opportunity to succeed in the classroom and beyond,” said junior Ginger Schulte, ThurtenE President. 

Some of the children supported by the Little Bit Foundation will be in attendance at the carnival this year.

“We want them to sort of be front and center and allow a lot of people who might not have got the opportunity to come to the carnival, to experience all the different parts of it,” Bathija said. 

ThurtenE does not publicize the amount of money donated each year — a decision that has previously received criticism in Student Life opinion pieces and a Riverfront Times investigation into their financial transparency.

Bathija explained that there are a range of factors that affect how profitable the carnival is, including the weather and the cost of vendors, so the net proceeds look different each year and the group does not want to compare different donation sizes.

“We don’t want community partners from one year to another to have unrealistic expectations, like if one year was sort of way above average, and then another year there was a snowstorm, that would have an impact on how much we end up donating to the community partner,” he said. 

Schulte added that the purpose of the ThurtenE is not strictly fundraising, noting that the start-up cost for carnivals is higher than other types of events.

“There’s never really been a standard of how much [money we raise], it’s up to us to try to get as much for them as we can, it’s more about bringing awareness to the foundation and making sure that they have fun at the carnival at the end of the day,” Schulte said. 

Throughout the process of organizing the carnival and running lot week, current seniors from last year’s ThurtenE class have been around to offer advice and construction help. Senior Matt Mande, who served as a PR and marketing chair for ThurtenE last spring, said that it’s been encouraging to see setup for the event ramping up again.

“It was definitely unlucky what happened last year, and I think they’ve done everything right to make sure that doesn’t happen again and to ensure the carnival is as good as it can be,” Mande said. “I’m really excited to see all the people at the carnival having fun, and also [the juniors] having fun.” 

Cole encouraged students to come and check out the festivities, which will be from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, April 4th, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 5th, and Sunday April 6th. 

“We all want people to care about the carnival and community as much as we care about it,” Cole said. “We don’t get paid, we don’t really get any special rewards, we really just hope that people can walk into carnival and think, ‘Wow, I’m so excited and ready to enjoy carnival this year.’”