This Wednesday, the Student Activities Office (SAO) will host the Luck O’ The Irish Festival from 7 to 11 p.m. The event will consist of a variety of St. Patrick’s Day-themed activities taking place across campus.
SAO assistant director for events and services Devon Sanchez-Ossorio said he hopes the festival can serve as an opportunity for students to enjoy themselves and celebrate St. Patrick’s day as the semester nears its halfway point.
“Our hope for this is that we provide some fun programming that entertains the students,” he said.
Campus Dining is partnering with SAO to celebrate the occasion by serving Irish food. At North Dining Hall, the meals will include shepherd’s pie and Irish soda bread, and South Dining Hall will serve Irish beef stew.
For another culinary highlight of the festival, Shamrock Shakes will be given away on DeBartolo Quad at 7 p.m. before the showing of “The Luck of the Irish.” SAO is partnering with the Student Union Board (SUB) for the presentation of the 2001 movie.
Other events include a Pom Squad performance on South Quad at 7:30 p.m. followed by a performance by the Irish Dance Club at 8:30 p.m. Two trivia events will take place with the Irish Club co-sponsoring Irish Trivia on North Quad from 8 to 10 p.m. and a game of Jeopardy! being held in Dahnke Ballroom from 9 to 11 p.m. Students may also participate in Jeopardy! virtually and must pre-register before.
At 9 p.m., North and South Dining Tents will host a shamrock “Board & Brush” event. Sanchez-Ossorio said SAO has seen strong attendance at previous “Board & Brush” events and thinks Wednesday’s will be a fun activity for students.
“I know that the Board & Brush events are always very popular and always have a lot of people that participate in them, so I’m sure that students will be excited,” he said.
Throughout the evening, students will have the opportunity to take some St. Patrick’s Day-themed photos and participate in an inflatable ax throwing competition on North and South Quads.
Additionally, a shamrock pot of gold hunt will run from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Teams of up to four students must pre-register and will check in at Duncan Tent. The scavenger hunt consists of clues directing students to various locations around campus. Sanchez-Ossorio said SAO held a scavenger hunt earlier last semester that was a fun challenge for students and hopes to replicate that success Wednesday.
“It’s challenging and it’s fun … and just, it’s a good time,” he said.
The Luck O’ The Irish Festival comes as part of a series of monthly festivals hosted by SAO. Last month, they hosted “WinterFest: Love at Frost Sight” and festivals last semester included Harvest Fest and Thankful Fest.
Sanchez-Ossorio said these festivals are an effort to provide students with fun activities on campus that are compliant with the University’s COVID-19 guidelines.
SAO holds St. Patrick’s Day programming every year, but they typically do so over the weekend closest to the holiday. Sanchez-Ossorio said SAO had to be considerate of students’ schedules because the festival is on a Wednesday evening; however, he hopes the event will provide students with an opportunity to relax and socialize during the week.
“We just really hope that everybody gets out and enjoys themselves,” he said. “Our goal is to keep everybody safe and happy.”
