Saturday, Feb. 21, Seawolves got to witness a truly unusual sight–snow at Sonoma State University. Sonoma State’s first annual “Snowma Globe” brought live music, delicious free food, massive games, and real authentic snow to its students, thanks to the Associated Student Production (ASP).
From 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., students danced the night away in front of a giant stage that emanated neon lights into the crowd. Others challenged each other to an oversized game of Connect Four or Jenga. Some Seawolves started snowball fights or hit the slopes on sleds.
Sonoma State student, Riley Fiscus, is from Southern California and hadn’t ever seen real snow until this event. “It was nice to finally get the real life experience,” said Fiscus.
When asked what the overall mood of the event was, Fiscus said “You felt very uplifted as soon as you walked in…there was a sense of unity between everyone.”
38 tons of real snow was brought to The Green Music Center for the event. It came from San Jose Ice company, based out of Fremont. ASP Traditions Director, Emily Hicks said “One cool aspect about the snow is that since it is real snow, it drains like it has rained, making it sustainable, which was one thing we wanted to keep in mind while searching for vendors.”
Six sledding lanes were created along the natural hills that make up the backyard of the Green Music Center. Seawolves raced down slopes together, laughing and tumbling over in the snow. There was also an area dedicated to snowball-making where students were able to make snow angels and mess around in the snow to their heart’s content.
There was never a silent moment at Snowma Globe, thanks to Dax Entertainment, who provided two DJs for the night. Seawolves enjoyed everything from electronic dance music to trap. Sonoma State students, Alyssa McPhee and Grace Daucher, said that their favorite part of the night was the track list.
Snowma Globe started from a conversation that Emily Hicks had with ASP Executive Director, Erik Dickson.
“We were brainstorming huge ideas for campus events and sledding on campus was just one on the list. Then, I thought of the popular music festival SnowGlobe, and ran with that as inspiration for the production side of things, like the major stage, games and food,” said Hicks.
One way anticipation for the event was built, was through the Snowma Globe Frappuccino, served at Sip. A new favorite for coffee finatics at Sonoma State, it is a creamy vanilla frap with white chocolate and peppermint syrup.
Like all events put on by the ASP, Snowma Globe was entirely free for students. ASP gets all its funding from student fees to put on events. Everything from food to games was cost free– thanks to the careful planning of the ASP.
Coordinator for ASP, John Dunstan, said the event turnout exceeded expectations by bringing in a crowd of a thousand students throughout the entire night.
Student Services Senator, Emily Twisselmann, explained that in response to a decline in student enrollment at Sonoma State, ASP has made it a top priority to enhance Seawolf living to its fullest potential. It is an important goal of ASP to ensure that Sonoma State is a fun and inviting space.
“In student government, we pass resolutions about things that we think are important to the student body, so we passed a reserve request to help fund this event and also the Seawolf send off that we’re having at the end of the year,” said Twisselmann.
When asked if Seawolves can look forward to another Snowma Globe next year, Hicks said, “As the University Traditions Director, I wanted to create a brand new tradition for Sonoma State. I hope it happens for many years to come and keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
