Every year in the week leading up to Carnival, many organizations on campus call all hands on deck to begin the process of constructing booths. For six days, students construct, paint, and decorate multi-story structures on Midway in the College of Fine Arts parking lot.
Each organization tries to make the most impressive booth in the given theme. This year, the booths were all arcade themed. Games such as “Clash of Clans,” “Super Mario Bros.,” and even pinball were featured in various booths.
For many organizations, the booth process started months in advance. Prospective booth builders had to keep in mind the Carnival theme, the time limitations, and the general personality and values of their organization.
When choosing their booth theme, Phi Delta Theta wanted to pick something that held significance to many of their members.
“Clash of Clans is like, a really big thing in our fraternity because a lot of guys play it,” said Leo Chen, a business administration second-year.
Aadya Dhar, a first-year business major, said that Alpha Phi settled on a “Candy Crush” theme because “it’s just so us, it’s very Alpha Phi.”
Other organizations went for sheer potential. Wesley Tseng, a third-year in Chemistry, said that Spider-Man had “a lot of different avenues … with the movies and video games” that the Taiwanese Student Association could work with for their booth.
During move on and construction, many students put in long hours in harsh conditions. In the final days of building, Pittsburgh weather was the most significant obstacle — heavy rains and flash flooding are not conducive to booth building on a time crunch.
The Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG) booth, which was “Jumanji” themed, had very paint-heavy design elements.
“When it’s raining, even just trying to tape things up, it was tough,” said Sanjana Panwar, a second-year in electrical and computer engineering who worked on the KKG booth.
Another booth, by the American Society of Civil Engineers and Theme Park Engineering Group, featured a roller coaster simulator to go along with their “Roller Coaster Tycoon” theme.
“We have a lot of sensitive electronics,” said Justin Peng, a fourth-year in civil engineering. “Keeping all those electronics safe and dry has been a challenge for us.” They kept their motion platform dry using a tarp, and their simulator was fully functional.
For the Phi Delta Theta booth, the weather was simultaneously a blessing and a curse. During their initial planning process, they had to redo many of their plans due to uncertainty over their structural integrity. However, the inclement weather caused the opening of midway to be delayed until the next day, giving organizations extra time to put finishing touches on their booths.
“We almost actually didn’t finish,” said Tseng. “If they didn’t push it back, we probably wouldn’t have opened, and probably would’ve been disqualified.” The “Clash of Clans” booth came together well in the end, with no further questions over its structural integrity.
Booths were open to the public on the morning of Friday, April 14. On Saturday, a subset Spring Carnival Committee decided on winners in multiple categories. The main categories are sorority, fraternity, and independent, as well as an overall best booth.
For the sorority category, Delta Gamma’s “Super Mario Bros.” won best booth. In the fraternity category, Sigma Epsilon won with their “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” booth. Student Dormitory Council’s “Animal Crossing” booth took home the award for the independent category, as well as best overall.
Despite long hours, inconvenient weather, and a general wish for more helping hands and time, most students had a positive experience.
Tian Ming, a second-year in architecture, said that his favorite part was seeing the Acts2Fellowship “Game of Life” booth come together when they put up the walls and ceiling.
“It’s like, ‘Oh, wow! It feels so much bigger than we thought it was going to be,’” Ming said.
Many people said their favorite part of Carnival was learning about construction and getting to use power tools, but the most common favorite by far was getting to do something fun with their friends.
Helen Zhu, a first-year in business administration for the Alpha Phi booth, said, “Even when you’re struggling, you’re still with all the people that you love the most.”
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