SMU students celebrate the end of the semester at Mane Event which happened Friday on the North Quad. (Spencer Eggers/ The Daily Campus )
Last Friday, April 30, it was impossible not to notice the array of colors, balloons and tents outside Dallas Hall as students, children and even Peruna flooded the quad for Mane Event. Since most of them were there just for the free food and a break from class, most of them probably have no idea about the real meaning behind the event.
“Mane Event was originally called Peruna’s Birthday, and was a fair-like celebration of SMU’s mascot at the end of the year,” Staci Talamonti, Student Foundation’s campus events chair said.
“It’s been an SMU tradition since the eighties at the latest. Mane Event has had many names over the years including Block Party, but the idea has remained the same: an SMU tradition created by the students for students,” she said.
Students had a variety of different foods to pick from, including Paciugos, Slushies, Cotton Candy, Boba Tea, Balls Hamburgers, Quesa-d-Yas, Strombolis and Texas Caribbean Turkey Legs.
“All of the food was gone by 6, students got to play on the water slides and dunk tanks (both a first), got their fortunes read, and had caricatures made – it seemed like everyone was able to really enjoy themselves,” Cathleen Good, vice-president of Programming for Student Foundation said.
A lot of planning went into such an elaborate event.
“SF is a group organization – we wouldn’t be able to put on any of our events without the help of our board and general members,” Good said. “Mane Event is one of our 4 programming events — so the entire organization is willing to come together to make the events better every year.”
As chair of the event, Talamonti had a six-person committee specifically for planning Mane Event.
“The efforts began in January and culminated in Mane Event last Friday,” she said. “As chair, I ran every Campus Events committee meeting on Thursdays after Student Foundation’s general member meeting…We all worked together very extensively on very small details such as the Paciugos gelato flavors to the big picture theme idea ‘Aloha, SMU!’ which we thought was very appropriate after the Mustangs’ win in Hawaii!”
By the end of the afternoon, many students enjoyed all the efforts put on by Student Foundation.
“Mane Event was a great way to relax after a long week of classes,” sophomore Elizabeth Banta said. “There were tons of awesome activities for everyone, and lots of good food!”
Talamonti agrees that Mane Event was successful this year.
“Even though the weather was cloudy the SMU community came out in mass,” she said. “And more importantly, everyone there was obviously enjoying themselves.”
