I have never heard rumors like the ones I heard about the Foresters’ Ball.
First, there’s the story about all of the ambulances from the hospital being sent to campus to pick up college students who, for the first time (or maybe not), discovered just how much alcohol they could consume in a short period of time.
Then there’s the Passion Pit. The stories I heard about the Passion Pit ranged anywhere from being a room you could pay to have sex in that had a slide (yes, a slide) leading into it, to a room where everyone just tended to make out a lot.
However, the rumors were never consistent, so the existence of the slide was a mystery.
Next came the talk about a jail, and how you had to kiss the “bartenders” so that they would give you a glass of water, but how you wouldn’t know until you started drinking whether it was spiked or not.
My roommate was one of the can-can dancers, and the corset and short skirt made me wonder what the can-can dancers would actually be doing.
Don’t forget the fact that tickets were dropped from a helicopter over the Oval after they had sold out in the UC.
Let’s just say the build up was extreme.
My friends and I arrived at the Ball around 9:30. The first thing I saw when I walked in was flannel; before you go to the Foresters’ Ball, make sure you get a plaid shirt! Then I saw the slide (so it really is real!) and the jail. We immediately wanted to go down the slide, but trying to find the stairs up lead to our accidental discovery of the Passion Pit. Lucky for us it wasn’t occupied yet, but the mattresses, well-sanded poles, strategic lighting, and nearby Hitching Post where you could get a Vegas-style marriage left no doubt for what was to come later that night.
And the music was fantastic.
In the end, the stories I heard about the Foresters’ Ball were a bit exaggerated, but I haven’t heard about a bad time at the Foresters’ Ball yet. The crazy experiences are hit and miss like most good parties, but the Foresters’ Ball is a party that every UM student should go to at some point.
You can find out for yourself about the can-can dancers.