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The campus community is going to get creative this weekend, as music, dance, art, activities, food, and drink highlights the fifth annual Block pARTy 11 a.m. Saturday on Parsons Street between Hamilton and McCartney streets.
A flurry of events will take place leading up to the 1 p.m. kickoff of the football game against Yale. To accommodate the pARTy the 600 block of Parsons will be closed to traffic with no parking from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m the day of the event.
“This pre-game event provides the Lafayette community another opportunity to engage in a celebration of the performing and visual arts,” says Jodie Frey, assistant dean of students and director of recreational services. “Students emerge each year to showcase a broad variety of creative interests and talent — oftentimes with a cultural flair.”
Food will be provided by Lafayette Dining Services, The Quadrant Book Mart and Coffeehouse, Bombay Grille, and Fat Daddy’s Southern Bar-B-Q. Students with Lafayette ID may pick up a voucher for free food at Hamilton Street. Rita’s Italian Ice will also be available for free while supplies last.
As well as enjoying numerous music and dance performances, students can leave their mark on the graffiti wall, try origami, decorate cookies, make a sculpture, construct a scrapbook or a photo frame, and create their own custom t-shirt. There will also be a free raffle for students to win Pard fan gear and art-related prizes. The winners will be announced at the football game.
According to Allison Quensen Blatt, operations director of the Williams Center and advisor of the Arts Society, the most important theme of the Block pARTy is that everyone can enjoy art and be creative. Accordingly, all of the participating organizations must include an arts-related activity for pARTy-goers to take part in.
“When we were kids, everybody drew pictures, built toys, danced, sang, and enjoyed being creative,” says Blatt. “As we got older, sometimes we stopped making art because we weren’t ‘good at it.’ The Block pARTy is a wonderful opportunity to play with art just for the fun of it.”
Students stopping by the Marquis Literary Magazine table will be able to make their own magnetic poetry and compose a line of poetry which will be added to a huge Lafayette community poem.
“The Block pARTy is truly a necessity as much as it is a day of fun,” says Marquis co-chief editor Jennifer Aranda ’07 (Paramus, N.J), an English and women’s studies double major. “There needs to be a constant support system here at Lafayette for all forms of artists, and I see the Block pARTy as a kick off every year for that community to come out and share their work.”
Other student organizations with displays are Arts Society, Student Movement Against Cancer (SMAC), Foundation of the Awareness and Alleviation of Poverty (FAAP), International Students Association (ISA), Association of Lafayette Feminists (ALF), Cadence and Chorduroys, Hispanic Society, Lamba Pi Upsilon, NIA (a multicultural women’s organization), Association of Black Collegians (ABC), Marquis Players, Lafayette Environmental Awareness and Protection (LEAP), Students for Social Justice (SSJ), Newman Association, Lafayette Activities Forum (LAF), Writing Organization Reaching Dynamic Students (W.O.R.D.S.), Alpha Gamma Delta, Knit Club, Reeder House, Japanese Interest Floor, and Questioning Established Sexual Taboos (QuEST).
Music and dance performances will be held on two stages:
Hamilton Street stage
McCartney Street stage
Block pARTy is sponsored by the Office of Recreation Services, Lafayette Intercultural Networking Council, Office of Residence Life, and the Arts Society, with support from the Department of Athletics, Office of the Dean of Students, and Maroon Club. The organizers would also like to thank the City of Easton, Plant Operations, Williams Center for the Arts, Office of Athletic Communications and Promotions, Student Government, and the residents of Parsons Street.