“The goal for Serendipity as a whole this year was to have family-friendly activities, especially during the daytime,” said sophomore Campus Activies Board (CAB) member Trevor Corning. “Also we aimed to have more of the Greensboro community by inviting outside businesses.” In order to accomplish this goal, CAB organized a street fair from 1-5 p.m. on the Founders lawn on Saturday, March 21.

The vendors at the street fair were varied and attracted a diverse array of students and other community members.

Ryan Eicher ’08 sold glass art, student Stacey Vandergrift sold wooden bowls and vases, the photo club sold matted photographs and cards, student Keith Barch sold Chainmaille, students Paul Bersoff, Tanya Khatatba and Quantina White sold jewelry on separate tables, sophomore Justin Poe sold jewelry made from recycled materials, and seniors Katerina Siladi and James Jenkins sold pottery.

Doug Swain and Edward McKay sold used books, Seth Christopher provided fitness information and guest passes to The Rush Fitness Complex.

Staff member Fatma Dogan sold Turkish jewelry, scarves and beaded crafts and staff member Elizabeth Balof-Bird along with Bonner students had a Bonner fundraiser selling coffee and other items.

“This is the first time we have had a street fair,” said Director of Student Leadership and Engagement Erica Cosentino. “We didn’t have as many off-campus vendors as we would have liked but hopefully it will continue to grow.”

The street fair was only one of many daytime activities that were planned to make Serendipity more family-friendly and involve as many members of the community as possible.

“In general the activities were more focused around family,” said Corning. “For example, there was a clear connection being had between younger children and college kids with the dichotomy of seeing kids going down the inflatable water slide next to the college kids jello-wrestling.”

Cosentino said that while daytime events are not uncommon for Serendipity, this year a special effort was made to ensure that there were several events going on at the same time so that students could have a wide variety of events to choose from.

“We wanted to make sure that events were accessible,” said Cosentino, “which is why we had the street fair on the Founders lawn from 1-5 (p.m). but at the same time had the battle of the bands and then the slip-n-slide and jello wrestling in the same general area.”

“Slip-n-sliding and jello wrestling were really fun, regardless of the slightly chilly weather,” said first-year Dima Hanania, “and the tables from the street fair outside Founders showed off students’ personal skills and talents like photography and glass-blowing.”

Junior Martin Brown participated in jello-wrestling with the men’s rugby team and attended several other events, including Toubab Krewe and slip-n-slide.

“It was really fun to have events to go to during the day because during Serendipitys in the past we usually got bored and drank at random times,” said Brown. “Having these events gave us something fun and structured to do during the day so we wouldn’t have to drink.”

Cosentino said that while CAB primarily plans Serendipity, this year they made an effort to get individual students and student organizations to plan their own events.

“CAB plans so much and it is very overwhelming,” said Cosentino. “We had these groups coordinate their own events but there still had to be one group to coordinate all these efforts and that’s where CAB comes in.”

Among these group-planned events, the Yachting Club set up a board game room, the women’s rugby team played their traditional prom dress rugby game, the men’s rugby team led jello wrestling, Fancy Feet hosted a contra dance, Pride did a performance, and the Ultimate Frisbee team planned a Frisbee game.

“Being new to Guilford school and its traditions, Serendipity gave me the opportunity to take a real break from studying and get into a festive mood,” said Hanania.

Brown added, “Events like jello wrestling and the slip-n-sliding we were and fun they represented the spirit of serendipity-finding fun in unknown and unexpected places.