“There was blood, and like black eyes, and nudity… a lot of weird stuff going on. Face paint. War paint.”
At King’s, the first snow of the year means serious business, according to first year student Claire Burnard. On Wednesday, November 23, when the quad turned white with fresh-fallen snow, Burnard knew just what was needed to help King’s residents get into the spirit of winter. Creating a Facebook event entitled Night Fight, she invited as many of her fellow students as possible to partake in what would become the greatest snow fight many had ever seen.
“I’m from a small town in Ontario, so I’ve done some snow ballin’ in my day,” recalls Burnard. “Snow fights were really serious, like tournament events. Even up until high school, some of us would get together for night time snow fights, and kamikaze sledding.” Even still, Burnard was impressed with the enthusiasm her classmates demonstrated. “Somebody came up to me and was like, ‘You’re our commander, I need to paint your face!’ People really went all out, it was awesome,” Burnard said.
Students gathered in the quad a half hour early to begin building snow forts, which were promptly demolished at 10:00 PM when the first snow balls took to the air. Patrol generously pushed back quiet hours to allow for battle cries.
As for the outcome? “If you ask Elizabeth, the girls definitely won, beyond a shadow of a doubt,” laughs Burnard, “But really it just ended in people mingling with interspersed snow balling. “We’re all just big kids,” she goes on to say, “I think that part of being mature is accepting that we really do still want to do this kind of stuff.”
