Discovering Logan’s nightlife
To some, the phrase “Logan nightlife” is an oxymoron. Aside from Walmart, many feel there are few after-hours attractions in Cache Valley.
With the recent closure of Club 435 and a low percentage of alcohol drinkers, late night activities in Logan seem limited to entrées at Village Inn or rentals at the nearest Redbox.
“A lot times when people think of Logan, they think there is only bowling, movies or campus activities,” said Stephen Andersen, a junior majoring in exercise science. “I don’t necessarily believe that. I think there is a lot to do. It just takes a little initiative and someone who is willing to organize something.”
Although Andersen was initially frustrated by the lack of options, he said he eventually organized Tubbin’ Tuesdays, a weekly hot-tub get together for residents and friends at his apartment complex.
Andersen represents one of many USU students who are working to reverse the late-night stigma. Other students, like Thomas Anderson, a junior majoring in biology, search out forms of entertainment when school-sponsored activities are sparse on the events calendar.
“I think it is important to have alternatives to school activities and Facebook where people can actually mingle,” Anderson said. “Getting together and relying on conversation as the main form of entertainment allows people to make real friendships.”
Witnessing the scarcity of genuine human interaction and nightlife opportunities, Anderson said he and his roommates opted to hold occasional dinner parties to stimulate meaningful conversation. Now held every other month, the dinners have led to new contacts and strengthened friendships, he said.
“Sometimes, the pretext that a social event is based on precludes the socializing,” Anderson said. “By only playing games or watching a movie, you may prevent people from socializing at all. We’ve been doing these dinner parties as a very casual way to interact with people.”
Though Anderson prefers smaller more intimate nightlife events, there are others who welcome the masses.
“If people don’t make an effort to throw parties and host events, there is nothing to do here,” said Julie Tukuafu, a junior majoring in marketing. “My good friend, Natalie Thatcher, and I started doing crepe parties because it was a fun weekend gathering and it brought all of our friends together.”
Although the parties began with only a small number of crepes, condiments and their closest comrades, she said the monthly event has since grown to become a popular Sunday soiree.
“We started by just testing it out, and it turned into an instant success,” she said. “At the last crepe party, we had somewhere between 100 (and) 150 people filtering in and out of our house — that’s a … load of people.”
With the growing number of attendees, however, comes a growing demand for food, she said.
“All the girls in our house split the cost,” Tukuafu said. “Normally we spend $25 each to supply the strawberries, bananas, toppings and other ingredients to make the crepes.”
In addition to monthly crepe nights, Tukuafu and her roommates also host unofficial dodgeball games every other week at an LDS church building near campus.
Colton Thompson, a junior majoring in parks and recreation, regularly hosts a function comparable to crepe night. However, Thompson said, a successful party is as much about competition as it is about confections.
Continuing a tradition that began with his cousin in 2005, he said he hosts a weekly dessert night as part of an eight-week dessert tournament.
“Each Thursday, there is a different dessert that everyone tastes and scores from one to 10,” he said. “After eight weeks and eight different desserts, the top four scores go to the playoffs.”
While the culinary contest allows for the weekly consumption of sweets, it also provides participants with the opportunity to expand their social network, he said.
“My cousin came up with the dessert tournament for the sole purpose of meeting a cute girl. Now they’re married and live in Tucson, Ariz.,” Thompson said. “So I mainly do it to give people a chance to meet coeds and eventually an eternal companion.”
For students who are not interested in dinners, desserts or dating opportunities, dancing is another option.
Nate Julian, a junior majoring in marketing, is one of three individuals who repeatedly host “dirty 30s,” which are spontaneous, random dance parties that last 30 minutes. Using a set of mobile speakers and laptops, Julian and his friends, Paul Jones and Bryson Bellaccomo, provide sound for each gathering.
“The dances are not super big, but we have a decent crowd every time, and there is a pretty good following,” Julian said. “With dance music becoming a lot more mainstream, more people are interested. We usually have 50 to 100 people.”
Though every dance party used to be held at Julian’s house, he and his friends have enjoyed switching up the venue, he said.
“Now we’re trying out different spots,” he said. “We did our last one in one of the tunnels at First Dam.”
There is a variety of underground activities to choose from each weekend, so Julian said the biggest problem he and others face is efficiently publicizing their events. Although it is sometimes unintentional, many functions are kept under wraps unless students know the event organizer, he said.
“If people who put together these kinds of events could publicize them more, everyone would be aware of the options that really they have on a Friday night,” Anderson said.
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