Post-Homecoming 2006 Reactions
This is what I get for not going to the library right away and posting my reactions. You fall behind quickly. Well, I excuse myself because I was running 10k for the Terry Fox Run today. So there.
For those interested, Optimuscrime has some reactions and pictures posted. I took a lot of pictures last night but I forgot to bring the camera connector so my pictures won't be up until next week, but you 3 faithful readers will be the first to know.
Anyways, I think of all that could've happened on Aberdeen tonight, it was the best outcome it could've had. The atmosphere was great, few smashed bottles, lot of very chill people. The police and the volunteers did an amazing job with the crowd. They didn't have to handle anything, just keep people and cars moving and handle the odd open alcohol violations here and there. The volunteers were everywhere and everyone had a plastic cup. I think the city, the AMS, the Kingston Police, the OPP and the voluteers deserve a hell of a round of applause for the work they put into making this event run so smoothly. The lighting, the cameras, the volunteers, the plastic cups definitely made considerable differences from last year.
The partygoers also deserve recognition for being respectful of the whole situation. Everyone seemed to have a great time without having to get rowdy. What surprised me the most was how it had spilled out of Aberdeen. In all my times witnessing this street party, I've never seen so many people on Johnson St., University Avenue (BBQ at University and William?! Unheard of!) and Division Street as well (though someone might argue the contrary). I can only attribute that to the many undergrads NOT from Queen's who made it to Kingston this weekend because of their friends here and the notoriety gained from last year (I should know, I rode with several of them on the bus on the way here on Friday).
And while this should be portrayed in the next few days as a very successful Homecoming, I find it ironic walking through Aberdeen last night that probably 40% of the people there weren't even Queen's students, let alone alumni (My percentage comes from the sheer number of people there, as I can't imagine ALL of them being Queen's students). As the name implies, "Homecoming" is normally reserved as a celebration for alumni, and yet there didn't seem to be that many there, or they blended quite well with the crowd. While there's an inkling of worry about whether alumni will actually consider NOT coming because it's been taken over by undergrads and students from out of town (as yet another excuse to drink and party), it is only a passing thought that I don't have an answer to.
At the beginning of this post I mentioned why last night's event was the best outcome. On the one hand, the behaviour of everyone last night should hopefully convince the city that Queen's, the city and out-of-town students CAN get along during Homecoming without causing a blemish to the institution or the town, which should ensure the viability of future Aberdeen parties at Homecoming. It was also very self-contained within the boundaries of the ghetto, which I think is a much better solution then having thousands of drunk partygoers spread out across downtown. On the other hand, the (some might say) good behaviour of the people on the street might convince the shit disturbers that everyone else on this street is not going to tolerate belligerence now that we've seen both the brink of Homecoming cancellation and what a good Homecoming celebratoin can look like. This should hopefully convince those yahoos to either a) tone down their behaviour in the future or b) not come back. Either way, less violent behaviour, the better.
The fortuitous timing of being in Kingston this week allows me to be able to gather local media (Kingston Whig-Standard, Queen's Journal) reaction to all of this, see if my observations agree with theirs and pass this information along to you, my faithful readers.
Just another public service that I provide with a smile...now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go lie down and rest me legs.
1 comment:
I posted more lengthy overall comments over at Optimuscrime, so I'll stick to a few specifics of your post here.
While I'm sure there were a lot of out-of-towners this weekend (as usual) I highly doubt the number was anywhere near 40%.
To account for the volume of people on the streets consider:
I don't personally know how many Queen's students there are, but I would off-hand guess in the range of 15,000. I would also guess that on any given Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night, not even half of those people go out to parties/bars/clubs for a variety of reasons ranging from lack of interest, school assignments, and being too hung over from the previous night. On Homecoming Saturday night EVERYONE goes out all at once.
Also, on any given night, the students who do go out are spread across the local city, from downtown bars, to the Princess street clubs, to the campus pubs, to ghetto house parties. At Homecoming while many people might start or end their night at some of these other locales I would bet that between 9:00 and midnight, most people are somewhere in or arond the ghetto.
As for Alumni, I definitely saw more this year than last year, around town and in the ghetto. Also, younger alumni, like you and I for example, blend in very well with undergrads, further, based on the appearance and attitude of some '00 and '01 alums I saw at the football game, its quite likely many of these younger folk were partying in the ghetto last night blending in with the '08s and '09s.
Finally, while I would guess that many older alumni eschew the rowdiness of Aberdeen (although I saw one couple with a baby in a backpack carrier) the football game parade was well attended by thousands of alumni ranging from Sci'41 up to grads of this century.
A long post to counter what was probably an exaggerated throw-away number (40%), I know, but those are some of my Homecoming observations.
Post a Comment