Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

By Jennie Miller
C & G Staff Writer

Ice carving, broomball, snow art, slap shots, soup, movies, hockey, ice skating and a beauty pageant — Lawrence Technological University’s first Winterfest just about covers the gamut of winter wonderfulness.

The public is welcome to enjoy the festivities and show their Blue Devil pride through Saturday, Feb. 4.

“Winterfest is another way for the students of Lawrence Tech to interact with the city of Southfield,” said Phil Lucas, student government president at LTU. “Students have expressed that they want to reach out to the city of Southfield and foster a relationship with the community.”

Lucas has lived in Southfield since 2008, when he began his education at Lawrence Tech. He’s now a senior, studying chemical biology.

Winterfest is another way the university is attempting to make students feel more at home at LTU and in the community. Plans to build a new dormitory are under way, and varsity athletics are being brought back into the fold.

“I think that one of the key reasons that we wanted to do a winter festival was to continue to establish traditions for students to look forward to,” Lucas said. “We can embrace winter with outdoor festivities, involve the community, and just provide a quick burst of energy into the bleak months of January and February.”

In the fall, Lawrence Tech held its first homecoming festivities in many years.

“I know that homecoming went fantastic, and it just makes sense to have a festival to celebrate Michigan weather as well as school and community spirit,” Lucas said. “It is hopefully just the beginning of an even larger university and community tradition.”

Essentially, this is a winter homecoming, said Kevin Finn, dean of students at LTU.

“We wanted to do some things to break up the coldness of winter,” Finn said. “We built an ice rink on our campus that our students will be having a broomball competition on. The rink is finally frozen — that has been a challenge.”

In the event of a thaw, which seems likely given the uncharacteristically warm weather lately, many activities, like broomball and open ice skating, will move over to the Southfield Ice Arena at the city’s municipal complex.

“We’ll bring in snow if there isn’t any for snow forts and snow creations,” Finn said, adding that there will also be an ice carving contest. “There are a lot of things focused on food — a man vs. food competition with the students versus the hockey team to see how many ‘pucks’ they can eat, with the pucks being King Dongs. (We’re putting in) a basketball court in the student center in the atrium, and (people can) play basketball and vote on the basketball jerseys for next year, when the men’s team will return for the first time in 50 years. You can also vote on who on the hockey team has the sexiest legs.”

The big night will be 6-8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 3, which will include an assortment of winter activities prior to the Blue Devils hockey game, during which the broomball finals will take place at intermission. The activities include a hot dog eating contest between the sororities and fraternities; ice bowling, which involves pushing friends down the ice to knock down bowling pins; and the Cold Butt Euchre Tournament, where euchre players sit on a block of ice while playing.

“The students are crazy,” Finn said with a laugh about all the silly activities they’ve got planned. “They keep you entertained.”

“Walking tacos” of chili on top of Fritos will be served, as well as “Blue Devil dogs,” which consists of a hot dog, chili, cheese, bacon, fried onions and jalapenos.

The week will conclude with the Miss Lawrence Tech Scholarship Pageant at 5 p.m. Feb. 4, followed by the Blue Devils’ hockey game at 7:30 p.m.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, call (800) CALL-LTU or (248) 204-2222 or visit www.ltu.edu/winterfest.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jennie Miller at jmiller@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1108. See this story online.

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