FUN: Rollins students spent a day participating in the fair-style event.

TARnival brings fun and games

By: Dodie O'Keefe

Posted: 12/4/09

From games and prizes to delicious food, TARnival had it all! On Sunday, Nov. 22, Crummer Graduate School of Business, Hamilton Holt School and the College of Arts and Sciences held TARnival from 2 to 4 p.m. Rollins had a great day planned for its students and community in the Warren Parking Lot. A delicious barbeque included hotdogs and hamburgers with lemonade and cookies for dessert. For those who have a super sweet tooth, there was a cotton candy machine and a popcorn popper was present as well. Inflatable games were another popular attraction on Sunday. These games included a moon bounce, an inflatable obstacle course, jousting, and inflatable races. In these races, two opponents were strapped to the back of a wall and had to try to fight their way to the other side before their opponent beat them to it. In addition to those activities, there was also a caricature artist, face painting, bungee jumping on trampolines, rock climbing and tons of games. The games ranged from a beanbag toss to attempting to knock over pins with a ball to tossing balls into the correct slots. Lots of prizes were distributed to excited winners, including one of the favorites: beanie babies. Another great attraction at TARnival was the fortuneteller.

"The line to see the fortune teller was very long so clearly it was popular, but it was well worth it. She used tarot cards and was very accurate! It was sort of creepy!" replied TJ Fisher (Class of 2013).

I also attended the ever-popular fortuneteller to see if the rumors of her accuracy were true. And they were! Somehow she was able to estimate some very accurate things with what appeared to just be simple cards. I will have to wait and see if her predictions come true, though.

In addition to students, many families and children attended. Various of Rollins faculty members had the opportunity to spend some quality time with their families at this popular event as well. Despite young attendees, you did not have to be under the age of 12 to enjoy the fun and games.

Megan Curry (Class of 2013) enjoyed the face painting and sported a painted orchid on her wrist while waiting in line for bungee jumping. In addition to Curry's orchid, others chose to have a scarier design. Entire faces were painted depicting scary creatures of every sort. Perhaps they received some good ideas for next Halloween.

Everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves on the bungee jumping trampolines. They were performing all kinds of flips in the air and some extremely high jumps. The jousters were also having a great time in their protective costumes, while simultaneously knocking each other over with the inflatable rods. Hopefully no one got too hurt! The rock-climbing wall seemed to be the biggest attraction at the carnival-literally. Children and adults were doing a great job of reaching the top of what seemed to be a very tall climbing wall. They had to skillfully choose the path that would lead them to the top without running out of rocks to grab onto.

Overall, TARnival was a huge success. We owe our gratitude to organizers Crummer Graduate School of Business, Hamilton Holt School and the College of Arts and Sciences for their dedication and hard to work to make this day fun and exciting for anyone who attended. So, if you see a representative from one of those schools, make sure you let them know what a great time you had and hopefully we can expect to see another TARnival next year!