Bottles of root beer and pink cowboy hats adorned the crowd at Kirn’s “New Dorm” annual Country Party April 17.
The event also included live country music from the student band GOODTIME.
“Country Party is a part of New Dorm tradition,” said senior and Kirn head resident assistant Paige Lettow.
Country Party is a tradition that serves as the culmination of a year’s work for the Resident Assistants, according to Lettow.
“As far as I know, Country Party began in the spring of 2022 as an event titled ‘Sunny and 75.’ Live music and root beer was a part of Country Party from the very beginning, and these two elements are considered essential for the event,” Lettow said. “All the RAs in New Dorm have pink cowboy hats from the first year that get passed down to each new team.”
Sophomore Alex Rigal said the party was laid back and the perfect excuse to hang out with friends before exam week.
“It was a very chill vibe,” Rigal said.
While Country Party is typically inside, Lettow said the RA team made a last-minute decision to host it outside because the weather was perfect.
“With the decision to be outside came the opportunity to have a fire put and s’mores as well,” Lettow said. “The Suites were kind enough to let us use their fire pit, and it seemed like there was always someone hanging out by the fire pit.”
The band played songs such as Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup.”
“GOODTIME was an obvious choice since Rylan played at Country Party last year, and they are all so talented,” Lettow said. “We reached out to him early so we would have time to coordinate everything with the band, and they would have plenty of time to prepare.”
Sophomore Ellie Severino, who lives in Benzing Residence, said she and her roommate experienced a Country Party from their room.
“We were just relaxing in my room at night and we decided that we should open the window and get some live music,” Severino said. “It’s really cool to be able to have live bands, and we were trying to recognize whose voice was singing. It’s nice to have music to accompany our evening that you can turn on and off as easily as opening your window.”
