Scenes from the Bonfire

Scenes from UMBC's Homecoming Bonfire on Wednesday night, October 13th:

Homecoming means participating in the tradition of waiting in line for free stuff!

First-ever Homecoming pancake-eating contest

Rosy and Lexx didn't get to see a Homecoming bonfire last year when they were freshmen (it got rained out), so this was a special night.

In the pancake line . . .

Traditionally the bonfire is lit by the members of the First Year Council, because it was a First Year Council member--Thomas Locastro--who launched the bonfire tradition.  This time members of the 2009 First Year Council also were invited to participate because of last year's bonfire rainout.  But there were so many FYC members who stepped forward to grab the lit torches that they ended up having to choose just a couple of representatives to light the bonfire.

At this point, a few people around me were actually snickering about what a lame fire this was.  They didn't know what was coming.

First Year Council members (and their student advisor, Naina Khandelwal).

The circle of people kept getting wider as it became too hot to stand close to the flames.

One of these guys said, "Do you want a picture of some tennis players?"

Some amazing colors in the embers.  Non-toxic, I'm sure!

This is the way the bonfire ends:  not with a bang, but a shower.

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