The temperature read 60 degrees, but Wednesday afternoon the Lynn Eusan Park was covered in 120,000 pounds of snow for the Student Program Board’s fourth annual Winter Wonderland.
Hundreds of students — many who simply stumbled upon it in between classes — turned out to enjoy the largest Winter Wonderland yet. The holiday themed event moved to the park this year from its previous location at the University Center.
Free funnel cakes, hot chocolate and snow cones were served. Students received free spray-painted beanies and entered in a cash-grab to win prizes such as an iPad Mini and gift cards.
T-shirts and face painting were also offered as students took photos in an enormous inflatable snow globe and raced through an inflatable obstacle course.
“I liked how (Winter Wonderland) is really interactive,” said biomedical engineering sophomore Marium Ravassipour. “It’s on campus — because (my friends and I) dorm — so it’s an event we can go to.”
The biggest attraction proved to be the snow, which was shredded ice sprayed out on Moody Lawn for students to experience sledding and snowball fights, some for the first time in their lives.
Long after the lines for the other attractions dwindled down, the snow area remained packed with students hurling snow balls and sliding on plastic sleds.
“The snow comes from Ice Express, which is a company located in Houston,” said SPB president Jessica Grono.
“We’ve used them for the past three years and we really like what they do. Basically, they take huge chunks of ice, shred it down and blow it across the lawn.”
An extra 20,000 pounds of snow was debuted this year.
Winter Wonderland coordinator and SPB’s Special Events Chair Kelly Poblete said that she hopes that in the coming years, the Wonderland can include more carnival games so that the entire park could be covered.
SPB also plans to foster more involvement among other campus organizations next year.
“We have some out here helping out, but I’d like a lot more because I’d like to collaborate with other organizations to get them to come out and get more student involvement,” Poblete said.
The day wrapped up with a showing of “Flow State” by ski and snowboarding filmmaker Warren Miller.
Grono said that she considered Winter Wonderland a huge success.
“I am super thrilled. Everyone has smiles on their faces and people are having a good time. The whole point is to get people ready for winter break right before finals so everyone’s enjoying themselves.”
Makes me miss D.C. On second thought, walking to school in snow, and sliding on the icy sidewalks. Maybe not. Hope someone made a snow angle, er, I mean a snow cougar.