On Saturday night, 130 students gathered on North Quad to attend Cavanaugh Hall’s first-ever Cav-araoke event. The event provided students a late-night opportunity to unwind with pizza and karaoke.
Cav-araoke started with an idea from Olivia Zino, co-chair of the social committee in Cavanaugh Hall. Zino pitched the idea to her partner, Emma Latchford, and given their shared love of karaoke, plans progressed quickly.
“Olivia and I are very dynamic people,” Latchford explained. “Olivia is an actual singer, and she participates in different theater and musical groups on campus. I’m just a singer for fun, but we both love karaoke, and we were thinking of a way to promote Cavaret.”
Cavaret, the postlude to Cav-araoke and Cavanaugh Hall’s signature event, is set to occur Friday, Sept. 20 on North Quad from 5 to 7 p.m. The event features various live performances and food trucks for an evening of entertainment.
“[Cavaret is] like a variety act show; we have Irish dancers coming, we also have the Glee Club, some different bands and an acapella group. It’s basically a play on cabaret, but we just changed it to Cavaret,” Latchford said.
Cav-araoke, however, is in its first year of execution. Planning for the event began in July, when Latchford and Zeno began coordinating details with Cavanaugh Hall president Madelyn Alford.
“Since then ... we've been working on getting logistics figured out, figuring out what we’re going to do for food, microphones, speakers, things like that,” Alford said.
Despite careful preparation, the planning of Cav-araoke still had mishaps, particularly due to its proximity to the inauguration of University President Fr. Robert Dowd.
“We ran into a bit of a snafu. We were supposed to have a stage from general services but, because of [Fr. Dowd’s] inauguration, they were resource-limited, so we had to do a little bit of thinking on the fly,” Alford said. “We’re going to do our best with what we have in Cav, but it should still be fun.”
With Cav-araoke’s inception this year, Latchford and Alford explained their goals for the event turnout which will in turn promote their later signature event, Cavaret.
“Because we're going to be on North Quad late at night on a Saturday, a lot of people will be walking to and from their dorm,” Latchford said. “As long as we get a handful of people to stop by, I think that'll be a win.”
A “handful” of people certainly stopped by Cav-araoke. About 130 performers arrived to sing, and an even larger crowd stood to cheer them on during each performance. Some students flaunted their vocals with classic Disney songs while others simply came to enjoy the atmosphere.
“I liked the community aspect,” said Aidan Sachs, a student from the Fisher Community in Zahm Hall. “I liked how everyone gathered around listening to everyone perform.”
The earlier Notre Dame football win against Purdue only added to the excitement of the night.
“I really wanted to support Cavanaugh and all the fundraisers for St. Margaret’s, and I just thought it would be fun after a big win,” Cavanaugh Hall resident Megan Koontz said.
The event was complete with pizza, charity work and even some Keenan Revue-like performances (thanks Shirtless Guy), sparking ideas for years to come. When asked about next year’s planning process, Latchford discussed collaborating with other groups to increase Cav-araoke’s presence.
“In the future, it could be really cool to work with [Keenan Hall],” Latchford said. “Since we are like neighbors, we've been brother-sister dorms in the past. It would be really cool to make the event even bigger.”
Proceeds from both Cav-araoke and Cavaret will be donated to St. Margaret’s House, a day center that provides resources and services for women and children in South Bend.
“They’ve been a really great partner and a really powerful force for good in the South Bend community,” said Alford.
Reflecting upon Cav-araoke, Latchford encouraged students to attend the upcoming Cavaret event.
“If you had fun doing your own karaoke, come and watch some professionals do something else similar,” she said.
