The University Program Board (UPB) hosted their first ever Shrektacular on Friday in the Smith Student Center Ballroom. The event was centered around the DreamWorks movie “Shrek” and featured several activities based on the film.
One of those activities was inflatable jousting, which was complete with a referee. Another was a table where students could fill their “swamp sacks” with various Shrek stickers and prizes. Students were given additional materials to make Shrek ornaments and coloring pages.
Shrek-themed snacks were also present. Green cotton candy, snow cones and a “make your own dirt” table where students could make an earthy-looking dessert out of pudding, Oreos and gummy worms. Beverages included green punch and water.
“Eating dirt made my whole night,” a junior who attended the event, Paige Mitsko, said.
UPB invited SRU’s Musical Theatre Society (MTS) to periodically perform songs from Shrek The Musical while activities continued.
“My favorite performance was ‘I’m a believer’,” Mitsko said. “The cast had so much energy and…seemed so happy to be there.”
After performances wrapped up, it was time for the costume contest. Contenders walked a green carpet while dressed in different Shrek-related costumes.
Sophomore Laura Gustaukas won the contest with her homemade Fairy Godmother costume. Other contestants were dressed as The Muffin Man, the Dragon, Donkey, Lord Farquaad, Fiona and an array of other Shrek characters.
“I am glad I went to this event because it was very fun and cool to see everyone dressed up.” Mitsko said.
Next on the agenda was Shrek Movie Bingo. Players were to mark certain scenes on their bingo cards as the movie progressed.
Once getting a bingo, students received three raffle tickets each. They could then enter to win cardboard cutouts of the main Shrek characters.
UPB Director of University Events, sophomore Bailey Carden, said the date was planned before the actual event itself.
“Usually, we have a Valentine’s Day sort of thing around this time,” Carden said, “But I wanted to stray from that and create something completely unique and new.”
Carden said the idea for a Shrek-centered event came about after discovering that one of UPB’s contracted vendors had the rights to show the movie.
“We were talking about how we all love Shrek and then it slowly spiraled into ‘let’s do an event for Shrek’,” Carden said, “and it kind of went from there…We decided to just run with the puns and references.”
Carden hopes she gets the opportunity to plan more unique events in the future.
“As someone who creates university events, I really want to drive morale up on campus,” Carden said. “I get very burnt out and tired of seeing the same thing over and over again; the same events, the same tests, the same homework assignments…but I think a Shrek event is perfect because it’s just something completely different. I don’t know if anyone has ever done this before.”
