R-MC’s Camptown Carnival Festivities
May 20, 2022
Randolph-Macon’s annual Camptown Carnival was held on Saturday, April 23. Over 800 students and community members came out throughout the day to enjoy the nice weather, food, games and carnival rides. The Camptown Carnival is a longstanding tradition at Randolph-Macon, existing in various forms since the 1950s. The Student Government Association voted to bring Camptown back in 2013 and this year the Commons Activities Board and the Office of Student Life worked together to make Camptown as fun and memorable as it has been in the past.
“Camptown welcomes spring and gives students a nice ‘hurrah’ before exams, since the end of the semester gets kind of crazy,” said Elizabeth Simmons, the CAB advisor and a major organizer for this event. “It’s also nice when students come together for a positive thing and have fun.”
The main campus was filled with music, laughter and the whistle of a small, bright train passing by every few minutes. If you missed the chance to experience this day firsthand, here is a first-person view of some of the fun activities at the carnival!
CAB played a big role in organizing and managing Camptown. Simmons helped guide them to book the vendors, create maps for each day, and plan what each site would look like.
“My favorite part was watching the cabbies [CAB students] grow and put on this giant event that a lot of them haven’t gotten to do before, if any of them,” Simmons said. “After not having it for a couple of years, seeing how excited people are for next year and getting positive feedback is nice!”
Now that the tradition is coming back in full force, there truly is a lot to look forward to in the future. I can’t wait to see what Camptown looks like in the years to come!
