Group gathers on Norlin Quad for giant pillow fight
The cold weather and rain did not stop 50 students from throwing a massive pillow fight on CU’s Norlin Quad Thursday.
Attendance at the organized pillow fight fell short of the expected goal of around 600 people. However, that didn’t stop the students who showed up from having fun.
Organizers Taylor Ferguson, a junior anthropology major, and Rachel Rener, a junior international affairs major, used Facebook and word-of-mouth to promote the event and recruit people to participate.
Brice Lucero, a freshman engineering physics major, heard of the event on Facebook.
“It sounded fun,” Lucero said. “There’s no reason not to bash people with a few pillows. That was more intense than I thought. I’m very tired, and I got a few good clocks in the face.”
The pillow fight was designated as a flash mob, which, according to the Facebook description, is “a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief period of time, then quickly disperse.”
A whistle sounded at exactly 3 p.m. signaling the start of the fight, and the sound of thuds could be heard as pillows hit their targets. Soon after it started, a whistle blew again signaling the end of the fight.
“I was expecting it to last ten minutes,” Ferguson said. “It ended up lasting only one and a half to two minutes. We had to cut it short because people already looked spent.”
Participants started to leave once they had caught their breath.
“I feel like I’m going to puke,” Ferguson said as he lay on the ground to recover.
Even with the small crowd, the organizers said they were pleased with how it went.
“It was pretty good,” Rener said. “I think the cold scared people off, but it was a good chance for people to take a break from studying for finals.”
Ferguson said it was a good opportunity for students to get out.
“Everyone feels like there has to be a significant cause to get together as a group,” Ferguson said. “This just shows that we can come together and have fun.”
Contact Campus Press Photo Editor Stephanie Davis at Stephanie.davis@colorado.edu.
