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Crowds flock to Thurtene Carnival

Pleasant weather led to a good turnout this past weekend for Thurtene Carnival.

The annual community event brings together students, faculty and staff from Washington University in St. Louis with the university’s surrounding neighbors and the greater St. Louis community for a weekend filled with rides, carnival fare and student-produced family-friendly plays. One new feature for 2013 was a rock-climbing wall.

Thurtene Carnival gets under way at Washington University in St. Louis during the evening April 19, with rides aglow in front of the landmark Brookings Hall. The weekend event is the nation’s oldest and largest student-run carnival, dating back to 1907.
(Credit: james byard)

Senior James Gill, who plans to graduate in May and is majoring in marketing and entrepreneurship, tries to convince carnivalgoers to pay $1 to throw pies at him during Thurtene Carnival April 20. The three-day annual event raises money for charity, and this year’s major cause is Provident, a St. Louis area nonprofit group that provides services from after-school programs to a suicide prevention hotline.

whitney curtis
Sophomore Maggie Kelleher, left, and senior Susanna Barron, of Alpha Omicron Pi, help children make crafts during Thurtene Carnival. Fraternities and sororities on campus typically pair up to build elaborate facades, house-like structures that are constructed and decorated the week before the carnival, each with its own theme. Student groups then offer plays and other family friendly activities during the weekend-long event. Kelleher is a business administration major, while Barron is majoring in political science and in French, both in Arts & Sciences.
(Credit: whitney Curtis)