Like every year, Tech welcomes all its students to the grandiose festival of Winter Carnival, full to the brim with dozens of events every day starting from the first week of February itself. The Winter Carnival is organized by the Blue Key National Honor Society annually since the year 1934 and has grown since then to become one of the largest winter festivals in the nation. The carnival at Tech is renowned for its huge, artistic snow statues all-round the campus and the community of Houghton. This event brings all the students, faculty and locals together to celebrate these series of events over a period of two weeks.
The Carnival commences on Wednesday, Feb. 7 and will continue through Feb. 10. A number of events are organized before the carnival, one such being the Queens Coronation where one Queen from the students is elected and crowned. This event is held in the Rozsa Centre for the Performing Arts Auditorium on Saturday, Feb. 3 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. This competition is open to everyone and interested candidates can register themselves and vote on the website at https://www.mtu.edu/carnival/. This event is free for Tech students while there is a charge of $10 for general admission.
The next event is the Beards Competition which, as the name suggests, is a tournament between the best and the finest facial hair. Contestants can grow facial hair into one of the three categories: full beard, sideburns or a goatee/mustache starting at the end of fall semester. During Winter Carnival, the contestants prepare skits to perform that show off their facial hair and are scored accordingly by a panel of judges, including the Winter Carnival Queen. This event is hosted in the Fisher Hall, room 135 on Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. The following weekend is again packed with a variety of snow-themed events with SnoBall, a dance for the students at the carnival, which is held on Feb. 10 at 9:30 p.m. and Ice Mass at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 9, as well as Ice Fishing which is on Feb. 3 for fishing enthusiasts. When asked, Amol Birhade, an international student said, “All this sure is exciting! There are so many events at the same time, especially the statue building competitions. Most of us are going to stay here the entire night. Hot chocolate is available in front of the Fisher Hall since it gets really cold here in the early hours.” A winter carnival karaoke is sponsored by the MUB Board on Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. with students gathering in the MUB commons to showcase their talent in crooning their hearts out.
At the end, on Feb. 10, there is an Awards Ceremony at the Rozsa Centre where the deserving candidates will be presented with prizes. This is the last event, which begins at 8:30 p.m., and marks the conclusion of the carnival. All the students are invited to partake in the fun and to experience something that enhances the marvel of snow and enjoy themselves in the middle of a hectic semester.
