This year, Concord Academy’s winter Community Weekend featured Winterfest as its major, all-school event. Hosted on January 20, the event included two main parts: a club/organization fair portion, and a combined raffle and talent show.
The evening began with the club portion in which all clubs and organizations that sold anything (merch, food, or otherwise) at Club Expo were required to also sell something at Winterfest. At this event, proceeds go to a charity of All School Council’s choosing rather than individual club budgets. This year’s proceeds went to Engender Health, an organization focused on global sexual and reproductive healthcare. Each student paid 20 dollars worth of tickets to enter, which gave them ten activity and food tickets to use throughout the event, with additional tickets available for purchase.
Clubs sold food and games during this initial portion, with the option to share a table with another club. They were not permitted to sell merch, as the event intended to raise money for charity, not to generate club profit or advertise. Unlike prior years, this portion only lasted an hour. The modification was made in response to feedback that it was too long and took away from the fun of the overall event.
After the club portion, students transitioned to the combined raffle and talent show section. Here, Council opted to merge these two sections to encourage students to stay for the all-school raffle instead of leaving during the talent show. Entertainment Representative Zhaoyi Meng ’24 said, “I’m most excited for the talent show. There’s a lot of really cool abilities in our community that don’t often get showcased for the school.” Some highlights from previous years include an act featuring karate and several musical performances.
Winterfest is a great way to reconnect with friends after winter break and have some fun on a Saturday evening. From running club booths to performing in the talent show, to (maybe!) even winning a raffle item, students had a blast and look forward to another semester of great weekend events.