On Sunday afternoon from two p.m. to four p.m., the normally serene Quads vibrated with music and bustled with people enjoying the warm weather. Live music boomed through the Quads thanks to the talented Andover Cottage band, sponsored by WPAA. Crowds of students clustered around various booths on the north side and blow-up play areas for faculty children on the south side. In the middle, students chatted with friends and played football, soccer and frisbee. Mr. Washburn attributed the success of Quad Day 2009 to the sunny weather. He said, “We’re not going to get everybody here, but we’ve got a good crowd.” The popularity of this year’s Quad Day nearly equaled the popularity of last year’s. The most noted difference between the two years may have been the lack of the famous Taylor Hall kisses. Due to the buzz around the H1N1 virus, Taylor Hall was not permitted to sell kisses, but its new enterprise was far from disappointing. According to Andrew Fraser ’10, Taylor Hall boys sold “stuff to embarrass your friends,” such as subjecting them to serenades. Fraser said, “This year, we are mostly party-boying.” In other words, the boys dressed in suits and boxers, surrounded their victims and closed in—bumping them back and forth to the point of total mortification. Fraser said that the dorm members, especially the Seniors, were upset about not being able to continue with the kissing tradition this year. Fraser added, “But we did not want to get people sick.” Johnson Hall’s booth also reflected the influence of Swine Flu at Andover this year. Instead of selling hot dogs like last year, Johnson Hall sold decorated flu masks for a dollar each. Johnson advertised with a sign saying, “Stop the Swine.” One of the most popular items this year was Eaton’s Cottage’s home-made caramel apples for two dollars each. They made the delicious caramel apples two days ahead of time with the help of caramel apple kits. Jae Shin ’11 said, “It’s working really well; people love it.” Kate Wiener ’11 of Pine Knoll helped Eaton Cottage sell caramel apples while enjoying Quad Day. She said, “I love Quad Day. It’s always fun to be here and help out.” Rockwell set up arm-wrestling challenges with members of the dorm. If the customer won, he or she received a hand-drawn caricature. Christopher Amendaro ’13 of Rockwell said, “The profit is not really that good, but it looks like [the customers] are enjoying it.” Isham’s booth involved a scavenger hunt in which participants had to obtain someone’s phone number or sing to a stranger among other challenges in order to win candy. Serenading seemed to be common at this year’s Quad Day. Bancroft sold love songs for two dollars. Customers chose from a list of songs such as “Tearing Up My Heart,” “Love Story,” “Every Time We Touch” and “Never Had a Dream Come True.” Other booths included Adams Hall’s tattoos and two minute backrubs in common room chairs, as well as Pemberton Cottage’s delicious freshly-baked cereal treats, Bishop’s Blackjack table and Pease House’s popular cookies. Tim Marchese ’11 from Flagstaff enjoyed the environment of Quad Day. He said, “It’s lively. A lot of people are here – you can meet a lot of people.”
