On the first Friday of fall term, the Bald Spot drew students from all over campus, who put off plotting their weekend festivities for a few hours and attended the Activities Fair. There, they trawled the huge number of campus organizations that set up tables and sign-up sheets, signing up for a few of them, or, in some cases, quite a lot more than a few. “I signed up for way too many things,” said freshman Casey Andree – “in a good way.”
The groups themselves tried an array of tactics to catch the eye of the mostly freshman audience: club members sparred in front of the aikido table, danced in front of the dance clubs’ tables, and rolled around on wheeled skis, dressed in brightly striped spandex in front of the Alpine Ski Club table. The Assassins' Guild showed off their arsenal of foam and plastic weaponry.
There was a staff-wielding Druid, a kilted Scottish folk dancer, a model windmill, and an adorable spotted dog begging students to join the Humane Society. CANOE (the Carleton Association of Nature and Outdoor Enthusiasts) hauled an actual canoe to the Bald Spot and taped their sign-up sheet to its side. Model planets hung from a mobile in front of the Astronomy Club, jugglers tossed balls, bowling pins, and large machetes to advertise for the Juggling Fish, the Mac Club gave out free Macintosh bags to anyone who professed a love for Apple, and the Animal Rights Coalition baked vegan ginger snap cookies, which were delicious.
The organizations ranged from charitable to athletic to literary to artistic to just plain random, and almost all of them (not just ARC) offered some kind of cake, cookie or candy to lure in potential members.
The students attending seemed to be having a great time, moving in circles around the lines of tables or finding their friends and asking them what they’d signed up for. “There’s such a great diversity of clubs,” said freshman Alex Korsunsky. “They have clubs for things I never knew existed.” Kaj Snow, another freshman, had a simpler reaction – when asked if he was enjoying the fair, he answered, “Yeah! Awesome!”
Once everyone had guaranteed that their inboxes would be flooded with club-related mail for weeks to come, they moved over to the barbecue that had been set up on the Sayles side of the Bald Spot, sitting with friends in the shade and discussing all the crazy things they’d seen. Whether or not they end up staying in the twenty or thirty clubs most of them signed up for, the fair had given them an opportunity to look into all the incredibly varied activities Carleton has to offer.
