Eric Wang

The annual Yale Fall Fest, which was held on Sunday at Old Campus, was an exciting opportunity for Yale students to come together and celebrate the coming of fall as well as the fast approaching October break.

During the fest, students were able to taste different fall-themed foods, listen to live music and participate in a pumpkin-carving competition. A pair of students interviewed by the News said they not only enjoyed the festivities but also appreciated the chance to catch up with friends.

“The idea with the Fall Festival is for [students] to have an opportunity to come out for a brunch, have great foods of New England and also … as a community to come together and hopefully make some new bonds and relationships,” said Christian Fischer, Senior Director of Yale Hospitality.

The Fest, organized by Yale Hospitality and Dining, had an assortment of fall-themed foods and drinks, such as caramel apples, hot chocolate and pumpkins. According to Robert Sullivan, director of Yale Dining Operations, every college had the opportunity to come up with its own menu for the event and present its dishes at its own food station.

“The colleges — the managers and all the employees get to come up with their own ideas that are sustainable and go along with our values and the things that we want to bring to the students,” Sullivan said.

The Fest also featured a pumpkin-carving competition, in which volunteers from each college had one hour to carve a design representing the spirit of their college. The volunteers then created entire displays using their college’s flag as well as gourds, flowers and other decorations.

Morse College representatives came in the first place and won a chicken tender dinner for their entire college.

“We made this display to represent everything we love about Morse,” said Samantha Alves ’22, who worked on Morse’s pumpkin carving team. “I don’t think any of us has a lot of experience with pumpkins, but Morse always wins so we gotta get out there and defend our college!”

Timothy Dwight and Pierson College representatives came in the second and third place respectively and won Foodie T-shirts.

Fischer noted that the Hospitality Team had to overcome some obstacles to put the festival together. Mainly, the rain forecast on Saturday caused the team to postpone the festivities by a day. Besides the main structural changes, Fischer said communicating the date change to everyone in the Yale community proved to be a challenge.

Despite the issues, the annual Fall Fest was a huge success, according to students.

“It’s my senior year so it’s great to be back on Old Campus,” Eric Chen ’19 said. “I just met up with a friend who came back from his study abroad in China. It’s just great to be able to see everybody again.”

Fall Fest is one of the many community-building initiatives spearheaded by Yale Dining. Fischer said he was hopeful that the pumpkin competition, “confined space” and the presence of college flags contributed to fostering new relationships among students.

Founders Day is another Yale Dining community initiative.

Freya Savlafreya.savla@yale.edu .

FREYA SAVLA