Aldersgate Green has been the long-time host of the Aldersgate Cookout, an event hosted by the Aldersgate community to bring people to their side of campus for a night of fun and food. This year, however, the cookout was replaced by something a little more medieval.
The Aldersgate Ren Faire, an event inspired by the typical Renaissance Faire but with an Asbury twist, made its debut last week with great success.
There are some pretty big differences between the cookout and the Ren Faire. “The cookout was pretty chill,” noted Emily Leininger, Resident Director of Aldersgate. “This is a lot more active. We’ll have more activities and things for people to engage in.”
People were certainly engaged: there was a constant flow of people that continued as long as the music was playing. While some came as they were in jeans and t-shirts, others had clearly been waiting for this moment and were fully decked out in Renaissance garb from flowy skirts, corsets and vests to flower crowns, swords and even some pointy ears and bare feet.
Plans for the Ren Faire began over the summer. Leininger said, “I pitched the idea of a Ren Faire to some students, and they were all about it. The RA team got behind it, and it became this big thing. We’re really excited.”
Their excitement was evident and equally felt by many in the crowd as they participated in many of the fun things around the green. At the very front was the ax-throwing and inflatable jousting, where people could compete against each other to win honor as a knight. Just beyond that was the rations tent, where people could get their tickets for food rations: cinnamon sugar donuts, popcorn, apple cider and Ale-8. Continuing from the food were two mini unicorns that people could pet. In the middle were several craft tables to make your own stained glass window with tissue paper. On the other side was a “dragon-taming” station, where brave souls could try their hand at calming the tiny but fearsome beast (more commonly known as Memphis, Leininger’s dog).
One of Leininger’s goals for this event was to further connections in Asbury’s community. “We want people to come and have fun and experience this side of campus,” Leininger said. “The RAs really tried to create and foster an environment where both men and women could feel welcome and present. Since this is now all women on this side of campus, we tried to include some things that we thought men might like.”
One event that helped draw some more men into the crowd was the rotisserie chicken eating contest.
Just before 8 p.m., the start of the chicken eating contest was called. Six whole chickens were placed on the tables and 12 people, six teams of two, took their places on either side of them. When the time started, the teams chowed down, eating the chicken as fast as possible. People gathered in a circle around the tables to cheer on their friends. The ultimate victors were juniors Kade Edler and Luke Chitwood, who demolished their chicken far faster than any of their competition.
Throughout the entire event, people danced to music playing over the speakers. This ranged from bardic versions of pop songs like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Taylor Swift to “Kingdom Dance” from “Tangled.” No matter what was playing, people were dancing, eating or just talking and enjoying the time to dress up.
Before the event, Leininger said she was “really excited to see my RA team come together and create something beautiful. They’re really excited and passionate about creating this space, so I’m excited to see them work together and see what comes of it.”
Leininger and the Aldersgate RA’s did an incredible job creating a fun, immersive night of games, crafts, dancing and snacking. This was an event unlike any other at Asbury, and hopefully, it will be one we see again.
