The Union ballroom was crowded and noisy last Thursday night when fraternities and sororities danced and sang in the U’s annual Songfest.
Last year’s sorority winners, Delta Gamma, took the stage first as is tradition at Songfest and finished its performance by shooting confetti in the air.
“It kind of looks like a Furby threw up,” said Greg Neff, Greek events coordinator a theater major of the stage after Delta Gamma’s performance.
Some performances were connected to the Homecoming theme for this year, “True to U.”
The 2013 Songfest winners, Alpha Chi Omega, donned Justin Bieber shirts and had a cardboard cutout of Bieber on stage with them as they sang versions of his music that had been made to fit the U’s Homecoming theme.
Another group wore Katy Perry memorabilia for renditions of her songs. Last year’s winning fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, did a similar performance but with a Beatles theme, with parodies of songs such as “Let it Be,” which was remastered into “True to U’.
At the end of the night the panel of judges, led by Terri “Crazy Lady” Jackson and Swoop, the U’s mascot, made the decision on which of the groups had the best performance. Beta Theta Phi was the winning fraternity. Both winners were announced later that night at the Crimson Rally.
“I was really incredible, almost every frat and sorority participated,” Mary Thiriot, senior events coordinator at the Alumni Association said.
Thiriot said the greeks had a lot going on this year with Rush Week and Homecoming being so close together at the start of the school year. This made it difficult for them to get so much done in a short period of time.
“They really did an amazing job of pulling it together,” Thiriot said.
Songfest has been an annual tradition at the U since 1919 and has been part of Homecoming Week since the early 1950s.