Homecoming Bonfire Held Despite Inclement Weather

 

Even though some of the Col­gate Raider athletes were finish­ing up their volleyball and hockey games on Friday night, other Homecoming events on campus were just getting fired up. De­spite the stormy weather, students and alumni gathered around the annual Homecoming bonfire on Whitnall Field at 9 p.m. Fortu­nately, the only danger that en­sued was not related to the fire or the storm; instead, Colgate’s own professor-led band, Dangerboy, provided all of the entertainment for the night.

Dangerboy kicked off the night playing popular cover songs of artists ranging from Weezer and Green Day to more recent songs from Adele and Foster the People. The band, which is composed of three Colgate faculty members, has been performing for seven years, but had not performed at the bonfire until this year. With Associate Professor of Mathemat­ics Aaron Robertson as the guitar­ist and singer, Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies Frank Frey as the bassist and Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology Scott Kraly as the drummer, the band has all its bas­es covered. As an alternative pop rock or “nerd rock” band, as Rob­ertson describes it, the members are successful in creating music that appeals to the diverse range of musical tastes at Colgate.

Usually, Dangerboy can be found performing at fraternity parties, house parties, tailgates for football games, the ice hockey arena and for Konosioni, Colgate’s senior honor society.

“There were more people in at­tendance than at a typical Colgate-sponsored event, but definitely fewer than there would be at a house party or fraternity party,” Robertson said.”It was also drizzling the whole time so that probably kept the crowd down.”

Over the course of two hours, Dangerboy played 26 songs, three of which included the popular songs “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele, “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the Peo­ple and “Dear Maria” by All Time Low.

As if Dangerboy were not enough to entice stu­dents and alumni, Colgate also provided slices of the hugely popular Toll House pie. While attendees enjoyed their pie, they also witnessed the traditional lighting of the bonfire by Konosioni. Konosioni, which consists of 26 students in the senior class, has the honor of presiding at many traditional torchlight ceremonies at Colgate.

“I think mostly [the lighting of the bonfire] falls in line with the idea that [Konosioni] is, in part, ‘keepers of the Colgate tradition’ and are responsible for upholding school spirit, ushering in the in­coming class and maintaining con­nections with alumni,” senior and President of Konosioni Lindsay Strand said.

Other torchlight procession­als that are led by the society in­clude those at Convocation, the night before Commencement when each member of the senior class holds a torch and every spring for the induction of the incoming Konosioni class.

Although the damp wood created a less-than-ideal situ­ation for lighting the bonfire, Konosioni was still able to carry on the tradition with the help of the Hamilton Fire Department.

“The fire was small at first, but then got a lot bigger since fire doubles in size every min­ute,” sophomore and volunteer firefighter Cristina Gutowski said.

With Dangerboy playing the lat­est songs and Toll House pie readily available, it is hard to imagine that the tradition of the Homecoming Bonfire would not be a success.

“To be a part of preserving a longstanding Colgate tradition was an amazing experience,” se­nior and member of Konosioni Samantha Myers said.

Contact Laura D’Angelo at [email protected].