This year's Spagfest, hosted by Zeta Delta Xi, will be open to the public, which may be good news for students who were disappointed when the annual Spring Weekend spaghetti party was restricted last year to members and friends of the co-ed fraternity.
But Zete members hope this year's Spagfest will not devolve into an alcohol-fueled food fight like 2007's party, said Zete President Katie Lamb '10.
Two years ago, Lamb said, Spagfest "kind of exploded a little bit," as intoxicated students threw spaghetti at one another and spilled out of the party's outdoor tent. Things got so out of hand that "people kept comparing it to Sex Power God when Bill O'Reilly came," Lamb added.
Though Lamb said Zete didn't get into any trouble with the University for the incident, it decided independently to tone down Spagfest last year.
"Safety is our first priority," she said. "When you are using spaghetti and garlic bread and alcohol as an arsenal, it can become unsafe."
This year's party co-coordinator Sara David '11 said Spagfest two years ago was "a disaster," and that last year's party, which was limited to Zete brothers, alumni and guests, was "solely for ourselves" and didn't help promote Zete's presence on campus.
"We basically want to find a middle road between the two," she said.
This year's Spagfest will be held in Zete's Marcy House lounge rather than in an outdoor tent, though the fraternity's patio will also be used to increase the party's capacity. David estimated that this year's party will hold about 130 people. Zete will sell tickets in advance and have a limited number of tickets available at the door. Lamb said the outdoor tent rented for 2007's Spagfest accomodated about 500 people.
Lamb said she hopes Spagfest can return to its pre-2007 roots as "a raucous spaghetti party" and not a food fight.
Students said they had enjoyed Spagfest in the past and look forward to it this year.
Zete member Leann Barnes '09 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that Spagfest in years past was a place where people joked, danced, drank "and stuffed themselves on spaghetti and garlic bread." It was a "dinner party ... not a food fight."
"I was expecting it to be more of an eating situation than a food fight situation," said Rachel Weiler '10.5 of her experience at 2007's party. Though she wasn't wearing appropriate clothes for a food fight and did not stay long, "it looked like people were having fun," she said.
Opening the party back up to the public was important for Zete because "a wider group of people gets to experience the vibe of our house," Lamb said.
She said she hopes this year's Spagfest will promote "the universal joy of spaghetti and love."
But Lamb warned that food fighting will not be tolerated. "The minute someone throws food," she said, "they're done."
