Fraternity houses are sometimes considered to be dark and scary, but last weekend at the Delta Sigma Phi house, the fear was intentional.
Philanthropy chairman Michael Dix, Rockford junior, organized the event that went from Oct. 24 to Oct. 27. It consisted of multiple events and was similar in nature to the annual Greek Week in the spring.
After each paying a $60 entry fee, sororities and fraternities were paired together. Most of the action revolved around a single-elimination capture the flag tournament, along with several other events.
“On Saturday, we had the rest of the competition which consisted of bobbing for apples, a sack race and a mummy competition where you wrap people in toilet paper,” Dix said. “We also did a pumpkin-carving contest and a scarecrow-building contest.”
Placement in each event gave the paired sorority-fraternity team a certain amount of points. The winners of this year’s Fear Fest were Delta Gamma and Delta Tau Delta.
Both organizations brought home a trophy for their accomplishment. As part of the prize, the brothers of Delta Sigma Phi will clean Delta Tau Delta’s kitchen. Delta Gamma will be receiving a currently undisclosed prize later.
“The events were very fun, especially capture the flag,” said Varun Badarinath, Battle Creek senior and Delta Tau Delta president. “It’s nice to have competition outside of Greek Week.”
The first floor and basement of the Delta Sigma Phi house was turned into a haunted house for Saturday. There was a $3 entry fee and guests were walked through and scared.
“Everybody in the house participated,” said Kevin Markey, Rochester Hills senior and Delta Sigma Phi president. “Honestly I don’t think we even used the word ‘mandatory.’ People got excited to have their friends come through so they could scare them.”
The final event of the weekend was a chili cook-off.
“We charged people a $15 fee if they wanted to cook chili and we charged them $3 if they wanted to taste the chili,” Dix said.
The winner, Megan Moore, Hillsdale senior, received 15% of the entry fee and 5% of the admission fees.
Even with the winning chili payout, the brothers of Delta Sigma Phi were able to raise nearly $1,000 dollars in just a few days. The funds are going to the Emily Lloyd Scholarship Fund.
Fear Fest, which has come to be Delt Sig’s annual fall fundraiser, was a big upgrade from last year.
“A couple years ago when we first started Fear Fest, we tried doing a week-long thing of events similar to what we actually did this year,” Markey said. “We had low participation and it wasn’t really fun. Mike came up with this bigger idea.”
The bigger idea was indeed a success and the Greek community came together for a great cause.
“Doing things like wrapping someone like a mummy, it sounds childish, but it’s a nice relief after a busy week of classes,” Markey said.
Dix was also pleased.
“I’m very proud of how it went,” Dix said. “Whenever I needed something, there was always someone around to give me a hand.”
Photo courtesy of Lauren Pung
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