Southern Illinois University - Polar Bear 2024

I got a call about the Polar Bear party at SIU in late December. Victory Event Group had talked all the frats into combining resources to throw one of the largest parties in school history. For reference, Polar Bear is one of two annual parties at Southern Illinois that students look forward to all year. For Polar Bear, it's traditionally 10 degrees or colder outside and most years there is even snow on the ground during the party. This year was no exception. When we arrived the night before, it was already 16 degrees and falling. By morning the temperature was hovering around 6 degrees, cold enough that plastic pieces on equipment were frozen and breaking off. (To put that into perspective, I spent most of my life in Northern Alabama where the temperature rarely got below 15 degrees at the peak of winter and snow was something we only saw every few years.) We bundled up and got to work setting up a stage, audio, and a video wall in the middle of frat row. The day kicked off at 11am with SIU student DJ Jeff rocking the opening set. At 12pm DJ Rotamo took the stage and hit the crowd with his edm remixes to pump them up. By 1pm the crowd was huge and rocking out to DJ Max Victory. 2pm rolled around and I took the stage with a chilly 8 degree temp but you would never know based on the amount of students partying with me in the street! When the day was over, we packed up and did a takeover at a local nightclub called Levels to keep the Polar Bear party going!