The Tufts Programming Board kicked off its Winter Carnival Weekend by setting up an ice rink yesterday on the Fletcher tennis courts.
The rink will be open through Sunday, available from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day except Saturday, when the hours will be 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for a "night skate."
The weekend will culminate with the Winter Carnival on Sunday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Blakeley parking lot, behind the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Laser tag, music from the GrooveBoston DJ company, live ice sculpting and snacks will highlight Sunday's festivities.
Tickets for the rink cost $5 and include skate rental and an hour on the ice. Everything else is free with a Tufts ID.
The carnival was conceived by the Programming Board - the committee that hosts the annual Winter Bash and Nighttime Quad Reception (NQR), or Naked Quad Run - and the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs.
Programming Board co-chair Erica Shipow, a senior, explained what inspired the board to plan this weekend's carnival.
"At our fall retreat back in September, we were throwing out ideas, and the president of the junior class council said, 'What if we brought an ice-skating rink to Tufts?'" Shipow said. "So we got administrative support and went from there. Then the Dean of Students Office suggested we expand it into a carnival."
The rink can accommodate about 60 people at a time and is made of synthetic ice.
"It's not exactly like real ice, but its still a lot of fun," said junior Ben Chase as he slid across the artificial surface. "This is the kind of thing the school should do more often."
His skating buddy was Stephen Sherman, a junior and a member of a Tufts club hockey team. "There's something lovely about skating in 50-degree weather," he said.
The Programming Board hopes that the carnival will help to ease students' boredom on the weekend. "There seems to be this feeling that there's a lack of things to do on the campus," Shipow said. "We really hope to show people that there are really cool things to do here."
Shipow said funnel cakes, jumbo pretzels, caramel apples and hot chocolate will be available at the Carnival. She hopes that, like NQR, the Winter Carnival will become an annual event. "We think that we've set up something really creative that can bring the community together at Tufts. We would love to see it continued in future years and expanded."
