For the first time since 2014, Garden Party will be held in its traditional location in Slayton Arboretum.
Since its debut in September of 2005, the Garden Party has been a chance to show off the the arboretum in all its pre-autumn glory.
Garden Party has not always taken place in the same location. In 2015, SAB experimented with a different location within the arboretum, and in 2016, it had to move the event indoors to the Searle Center due to inclement weather.
“This will actually be the first time since 2014 that the Garden Party is actually going to be in the western bowl of the arb where it’s traditionally been held,” Assistant Director of Student Activities Hank Prim said.
Prim explained the event’s location in the arboretum is essential to its main idea.
“Whereas most of our other events are here on campus…the arb is kind of a unique environment in itself,” Prim said. “It’s a very different atmosphere than a lot of our other parties, which is why [Garden Party] is so special.”
Although Garden Party is scheduled for this Friday, that wasn’t SAB’s original plan.
“We planned to have it this Saturday,” Ashlyn Landherr, Director of Student Activities said. “We realized halfway through the summer that our only home night football game was this Saturday, and we decided that it was important that those two things didn’t conflict.”
Upperclassmen who have been to Garden Party in previous years said they are looking forward to the event.
“My favorite part about Garden Party is, hands down, the opportunity to have a more formal event,” junior Sam Cassels said.
Junior Molly Kate Andrews remembered her first Garden Party as a sort of girls night.
“In Olds [Residence], we would all kind of do our hair together and share lipstick and stuff like that,” Andrews said. “Then we would go together in a huge pack.”
Andrews also said she enjoys that the event is open to the whole campus community.
“Garden Party itself was always really fun, but it was more about seeing all the people on campus in one place at the same time,” she said. “People kind of come out of the woodworks, I guess.”
The SAB team has been working as far back as five months to make this classy night a moment not quickly forgotten in the archives of Hillsdale College events. Jake Kenyon, SAB’s Creative Team Leader, has high expectations for the event.
“I think it’s going to be a really beautiful event and we’re going to have a lot of fun.”
The Garden Party will be held on Friday night from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. in the Slayton Arboretum.