Students at UTSG were in for some frosty fun last week when the St. George Roundtable hosted Winterfest. The festivities are set to continue this week, with the University of Toronto Students’ Union’s (UTSU) Frost Week events taking place January 15–19.
“Winterfest is… [a] week of events meant to welcome U of T students back to school, reminiscent of Orientation. We hope to give back a little to the community,” wrote Winterfest co-chairs Albert Hoang, Yolanda Alfaro, and Samantha Douek.
Winterfest kicked off on Monday, January 8 with an open mic night. On Tuesday, students were able to attend either a screening of Norwegian Wood, an adaption of a movie by Haruki Murakami, or a pub night at Supermarket in Kensington Market.
Wednesday’s highlight was the Battle of the Bands at Lee’s Palace, featuring local bands Basset, Newcomer, Rocket Bomb, and the ultimate champions, Dorval. Thursday’s events were a drag show and board game night. Winterfest closed on Friday with another pub night at Tequila Jack’s. Throughout the week, students had the opportunity to eat free pancakes, which were served at individual colleges.
At Frost Week, students will get to decorate donuts on Monday, attend a LinkedIn profile review on Tuesday, sing with Choir! Choir! Choir! on Wednesday, see Young MA in concert on Thursday, and eat a free vegan breakfast on Friday.
“Most of the time, the programming is similar to Orientation,” wrote UTSU President Mathias Memmel of Frost Week. “The idea is to help ease students into the new term. Still, next year’s team should consider re-imagining Frost Week. Whenever an event becomes a ‘tradition’, opportunities for growth and improvement are lost. It’s good to start from scratch every once in a while and invite in collaborators.”
