Students at Binghamton University will gather in the East Gym Thursday to celebrate the 19th annual Purim Carnival.
The carnival, which is scheduled to be held from 8 to 11 p.m., honors the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from genocide.
The holiday, which falls on Feb. 28 this year, is celebrated with costumes, games and fruit-filled cookies called Hamantaschen.
In addition to the annual costume contest and Hamantaschen, this year’s main attraction is a mechanical bull.
Jonathan D. Cogan, treasurer of Chabad and Purim Carnival chair, describes the occasion as one of the Student Association’s largest campus events.
“At the Purim Carnival we make sure there is something for every student,” Cogan said. “It’s an all-inclusive event that is open to all groups regardless of religious affiliation. We try to make the event a little bigger and better each year.”
Cogan relies on a variety of committees to carry out all the tasks effectively. There are between six and eight committees dealing with different aspects of the event, such as organizing food, publicizing the event and getting other student groups involved.
Alpha Sigma Phi and Alpha Epsilon Phi are the two Greek organizations co-hosting the event, along with Hillel and Chabad, but many other campus groups are involved with sponsoring.
There is a fee of $3 at the door to cover Purim Carnival expenses, but raffle tickets and T-shirts will also be sold to raise money for local charities.
The charities chosen this year include the Children of Chernobyl and CHOW, among others. A portion of the money will also be donated to Haiti relief.
“We need to distribute money based on need,” Cogan said, “Obviously Haiti really stood out to us, so there’s really no question that a large majority of charity collected this year will go to Haiti.”
Raffle tickets are $1 each and can go toward a chance at winning all kinds of prizes. Some of these prizes include a Kaplan course, a Sodexo meal plan, College Express bus tickets, tickets for a Binghamton Mets game and plenty of gift certificates.
There will also be five sets of Binghamton Senators tickets raffled off, with one pair offering the chance to go on the ice during intermission and potentially win $1000.
Rabbi Levi Slonim of Chabad highlighted many things to look forward to at this year’s carnival.
“It’s an exciting event that everyone has to experience in order to understand why we are looking forward to it so much,” Slonim said.
The event will feature food, a battle of the bands, inflatable rides and games, a hot dog and pie-eating contest and a DJ.
Slonim is expecting about 2,000 people to attend this year.
“The event is run by students, for students,” Slonim said. “It gives people an opportunity to celebrate the holiday in a fun and exciting way.”