Cardinal Ball returns with new venue

Students dance at the new venue location, The Dow Event Center, during the Cardinal Ball on Feb. 21. Vanguard Photo | Brooke Elward

SVSU students danced the night away at the enchanted garden-themed Cardinal Ball on Feb. 21.

Thomas Metiva, a biology sophomore, spearheaded Cardinal Ball preparation this year as the campus events director for Student Association. He said this year’s ball was more thematic than in the past, with more decorations to fit the theme and an opportunity to take pictures with themed props.

“We made a photo booth with a nice pergola and a lot of different flowers and cool decorations that people could take pictures with,” Metiva said. “This year, we had a lot more decorations and used a lot more decorations that we built ourselves.”

SA chose The Dow Event Center because it offered more amenities and decorations than previous venues. Metiva said he worked a lot with The Dow to put up lights and a stage.

“I remember coming in last summer a couple times to talk with the guy that we worked with, but we didn’t solidify that until early September,” Metiva said. “Since then, I’ve been arranging different things like getting a DJ, the bus situation and then planning out how we wanted to decorate.”

Metiva also planned the hors d’oeuvres and drinks for students to enjoy. He said he wanted to be sure people who were old enough to consume alcohol had the option available to them. Hors d’oeuvres included chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks, fruit, cheeses and dips.

Another change to the event was how soon students could begin purchasing tickets. Last year, SA sold tickets for five weeks leading up to the Cardinal Ball. This year, they only did two and a half weeks of table sitting.

With more than 300 students having bought tickets for Cardinal Ball, Metiva said he was proud of the work his committee and the rest of SA put into the event.

One of the 300 students in attedance was biochemistry junior Lauren Richardson, who said she missed the photo booth this year.

“(SA) didn’t get an actual photo booth,” she said. “They just had the backdrop, so we didn’t get the pictures printed off.”

Richardson said she appreciated that the venue was closer to campus this year, but she said she overall liked last year’s venue, The Golden Glow Ballroom, better.

“It was nice that it was closer, but I’d rather drive farther to the other place because there we had a larger dance floor, free drinks and a dessert table,” she said.

She added that the DJ played mostly older songs, with few current or slow songs.

“(The music) wasn’t bad,” she said, “but I’d prefer a few more current songs.”

Melissa Vennix
Latest posts by Melissa Vennix (see all)

Categories: Uncategorized

Tagged as: , ,

Leave a Reply