The residents of Shady Grove House of Hunt Hall will be showing students how to have fun without alcohol with their fourth Annual Root Beer Bash.
The Root Beer Bash is an event centered around a beer pong tournament where root beer is used instead of alcoholic beer.
The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 31 in the Hunt/Van Antwerp basement. Admission is free and the first 100 participants to sign up will receive a free mug.
This event is based on promoting the idea that students can still have fun without alcohol. Also its goal is to educate students on the risk of drinking and its effects on themselves as well as others when it is not done responsibly.
“Alcohol isn’t required to have fun,” said Grant Langdon, resident director of Hunt Hall.
Langdon helped put on the event last year and is assisting again this year.
At the Root Beer Bash, Public Safety and the Health Promotions office will have informational tables set up in order to spread awareness about alcohol abuse.
They will both be handing out designated driver cards and have additional special prizes as well as fun activities to participate in when your team is not in play. Also, Public Safety will be bringing intoxication simulation goggles that students are allowed to try on.
Along with the activities provided by Public Safety and the Health Promotions Office there will also be a professional DJ at the event.
“DJ Double Trouble is one of the most well-known DJs in the Marquette area,” Langdon said.
They can be heard at the Vera Bar in downtown Marquette, and they will be providing the tables for the games as well as the bracket system for the tournament.
“There is a lot more local businesses donating to the event, it was really nice to see so much support from the community,” Langdon said.
Just a few examples of how much the community has been contributing, Shady Grove has received donations from Jilbert’s Local Dairy Farm, Getz’s, the NMU Bookstore, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Casualties, Family Video and the Pasta Shop.
“A few of the girls that were going around town asking for donations for the event ended up at Getz’s, where the woman behind the counter just handed them a backpack right off the shelf,” Langdon said.
There will also be tables set up with additional activities for students not entered into the tournament.
“What I liked the most was that there were activities to do while you were not playing,” Langdon said.
What allows this event to be as successful as it has been for the past few years is the involvement of local community donations and funding provided this year by the Student Finance Committee.
“We have ice cream, which is being donated by Jilbert’s Dairy Farm, and we have pizza from Little Caesar’s and Jimmy Johns being donated to the event as well,” said Brittany Voich, junior elementary education major and resident adviser of Shady Grove Hall.
Voich said the bash has lasted until 10 p.m. in previous years.
“If you want to know what all of the additional prizes are, you’ll have to come to the event to find out,” said Megan Weber, a junior elementary education major.
Weber has been participating in the Root Beer Bash since her freshman year at NMU. The next year she moved to Shady Grove House in Hunt Hall and began helping plan the event.
There will be prizes handed out throughout the night and the final two teams will receive special gifts for making it to the final round of the tournament.
For more information on the event or to enter the tournament, email Brittany Voich at [email protected].
