Dressed in white T-shirts and old shorts, students gathered together on Iler Field, many holding cups ready to be filled with paint. The first event of Oktoberfest weekend,Color Wars took place on Friday, Oct. 4.
The classes of 2017 and 2015 made up the Green Class, and 2016 and 2014 represented the Red Class.
Students, including freshman Katelyn Ohlstein, took the opportunity to individualize their white shirts with their friends who were on the same team. “My friends and I went to Pairet’s the week before Color Wars,” she said. “We each got the Longwood logo put on white shirts, then some of us got green sharpies and decorated them with things like ‘2017.’”
At 4 p.m., Color Wars was about to begin. While participants awaited the start of the annual event, games were played between the two teams, such as tug-of-war and relay races.
Then, announcers presented the rules and gave the cue to begin. Cups in-hand and already filled with paint, students rushed forward toward the opposing team.
“I just remember running and all of the paint going everywhere,” Student Elizabeth Guidry said of her first time experiencing Color Wars.
She continued, “I feel like I didn’t even make it to the red side the first time I ran out because I was just covered in green. I had to push through so many people to even get back to the paint. After that, I just stayed in the middle. I lost all of my friends from the very beginning. I just turned around near the end and was like, ‘Where did everyone go?’”
Student Makayla Stanley added, “It was complete chaos, and I wasn’t expecting it to be that intense. But I remember thinking that the cold paint felt so good because it was 90 degrees out that day.”
In addition to the Green and Red Classes, there was also a team that carried blue paint. The members of this team served as a neutral force between the other two.
“I heard that the blue paint represented everyone, like CHI and Princeps and how that spirit is in all of us here on campus,” Guidry said. “I even saw President [W. Taylor Revely IV] participating with a shirt that said, ‘Red + Green = Blue.’ I thought that was a really cool thing to see him doing.”
After all of the paint was splattered and poured,everyone returned to their respective sides to await the declaration of the winning team, which was the Red Class.
Stepping away from the field covered in red, green and blue paint, students met back up with friends, reclaimed their shoes and took pictures together before heading back for a shower or continuing on to WMLU’s Battle of the Bands.
