Riley Sardinha
Editor-in-Chief
Valentine’s Day at ESU was celebrated by many students at the Mattioli Rec Center this past Tuesday night. The “Day of Love” was held from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
As if it were an unspoken tradition, many students wore red, pink and white outfits to celebrate the holiday. Regardless of whether students had a valentine or not, anyone could join in on the festivities.
The rec center offered other things to do besides the usual E-Sports room, ping-pong table and foosball table, as the event also had karaoke, roller skating, mini golf and even a sex bingo.
The sex bingo was, of course, organized by the Gender and Sexuality Center. The announcers changed the winning conditions each round, going from the regular five-point lines to the postage stamp format to the picture frame one. Condoms were used as blotters on the boards.
Bingo prizes included a variety of vibrators, lubricants and a few adult coloring books. Winners were free to pick out what they pleased. Many couples and friend groups could be seen participating in the bingo event.
The auditorium was decorated with colored spotlights, lasers and blacklights to draw people into the glow-in-the-dark roller rink and mini golf course.
The roller rink allowed for a few hundred square feet of skating space, where the distributors handed out skates with fluorescent laces and wheels that lit up when they hit the ground. Students were allowed to skate for as long as they wanted, but it proved to be quite a workout for a lot of people.
The mini golf also had a number of unique obstacles for each of the 18 holes (or 17 rather, as one was “Out of Order”). The putters, balls, and scorecard pencils also glowed in the dark, complimenting the zany bowling alley carpets (you know the ones) they used to line the holes.
There were many parts of the building devoted to different student organizations advertising club activities, using Valentine’s Day themes to draw people in. The Environmental Science Club laid out a list of flowers and what they mean as part of the historical “Language of Flowers”.
Another organization offered Indian snacks and a homemade, delicious yogurt drink of mango Lassi. It was nice to have that, seeing as the rest of the event’s food ran out pretty quickly.
Just as everything else was winding down in the last hour, the dance floor organizers shifted gears in a way no one weren’t really expecting. A man in an elaborate robot costume covered in LED lights walked out onto the dance floor in stilts. The robot suit had its name “Prime P.” on the chest. The DJ hyped Prime P. up as he handed him the nozzle to a tank of compressed air to spray towards the crowd. The whole thing was very confusing, but at least the DJ and Prime P. were kind enough to let people take pictures with them.
No big event with a hired DJ would be complete without the Cupid Shuffle or the Cha-Cha Slide, but not before a giant conga line started to snake throughout the auditorium and draw everyone in.
After this, the food had run out, the bingo had ended, and the clubs started to take their leave. For a campus event, the Day of Love put on a fun Tuesday night for anyone who wanted to join. More events are sure to be announced soon to continue bringing students together throughout the semester.
Email Riley at:
rsardinha@live.esu.edu
