Time has swallowed the old days of the E-Level bar and late-night drinking on the Beach, but come Spring Fair weekend, one of Hopkins' last well-loved traditions returns. When Fair opens this weekend, the President's Garden will transform once again into its Spring Fair weekend persona: Beer Garden.
Ah, Beer Garden. When the President's Garden is fenced off with green plastic netting and fed by a constant line of people clutching their 21 IDs in one hand and their chicken-on-a-stick in the other. When the peaceful lily pond is wrapped by ten tables of beer vendors - fraternities, sports teams, volunteer groups, the senior class, the News-Letter - each tapping two kegs and fielding paper tickets in exchange for beer. One keg contains $2 beers - Miller Lite, Rolling Rock, and Yeungling; the other is $1.50 beers - Sam Adams, Sam Adams Summer Ale and Stella Artois. The air is thick with laughter, live music and the smell of roasting turkey legs.
The Garden has had its share of lore, from the old Acacia fraternity that decked the fountain nymph in a bra each year, to the students who refused to keep their kegs closed at the end of the evening, to the campus groups who drank away their beer booth profits and were asked not to return. In a good weekend of 100 kegs, garden patrons consume over 1,500 gallons of brew, turning out even in rain, cold - and snow.
Aside from financial losses ("There are very few groups for whom the Beer Garden is not profitable - only two in the past five years," says Spring Fair co-Director James Almond), and variation in beer labels ("This year, Coors didn't want to participate for some reason or another," says Beer Garden Co-Chair Dan Coleman), some things don't change: Spring Fair is not Spring Fair without Beer Garden.
"I haven't really ever spent too much time at Spring Fair," says senior Suzie Siefert.
But as far as Beer Garden? She was there as soon as her MCAT exam let out last April.
Beer Garden is also the heart of a carefree spring fever.
"I can't imagine spring fair without the beer garden, especially as a senior. It's a great way to spend time with people before leaving," says senior Christin Davis.
Of course, back in the old days, beer booths were simply distributed among the other Spring Fair vendors. Nowadays, however, since it was made official in 1983, the Beer Garden is much more of a production. Each year, the University purchases three one-day beer and wine licenses from the city liquor board for $25 each. Security contracts go out to Army ROTC, Hopkins Security and privately-contracted SAFE Management, Inc. officers, who came on board about five years ago when Hop Cops, already forbidden from taking vacation leave the weekend of Spring Fair, were nonetheless stretched too thin. For $15 each per hour, red-shirted SAFE officers patrol the garden between six and seven, representing $600 of security for each day of Beer Garden.
Once the fence and the security are in place, the beer flows like water. Each keg pours about 164 12-oz. cups of beer, and on a good weekend of 100 kegs, Beer Garden patrons drink 1,538 gallons of brew, says Coleman. Even on a bad weekend, marred by rain and cold, die-hard garden-goers can still consume over 500 gallons of beer.
Beer supply runs like clockwork behind the scenes, with local beer supplier Bond Distributing Company providing a non-stop supply of kegs from their garden-side delivery truck. Bond pays $7,000 to sponsor the event, and in return, Spring Fair buys up to $10,000 worth of kegs in a good year. Spring Fair Co-Director Jane Rhyner, who has chaired Spring Fair for over 15 years, estimates that 12-15,000 patrons walk through Beer Garden each year. Because Coors will not supply this year's Fair, Coors, Killians and Molson Canadian will be replaced by Sam Adams and Stella Artois.
At the heart of the Garden are the booths, staffed by student groups who pay to man them for the weekend in hopes of good times and - if they're lucky - good profits. This year, beer will flow to raise money for an eclectic assortment of groups, including the Johns Hopkins Tutorial Project, A Place to Talk (APTT), Varsity Soccer and Olympic Taekwondo. Coleman and his co-chair Gary Catig have worked since September to plan the Beer Garden and staff it with student groups. Groups are supplied with sheets that tell them how much profit they can make on a keg, and how much they must sell to break even. Each group can turn up to 10 kegs in the weekend. Graduate student groups and the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra hold the record for almost $2,000 in profits, says Almond.
This year, Fair promises a not-too-rainy, not-too-hot weekend, primed for attracting another generation of 21-year-olds to its makeshift entranceway. The Beer Garden celebrates its own 21st birthday this year, too.
