 "Photo: Tyler McDermott")
 "Photo: Tyler McDermott")
UNH Dining’s most recent event on Tuesday afternoon had dining services teaming up with Red Bull for the Party in the Park in C-Lot from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and featured barbeque style cooking along with two shows from Red Bull’s TNT BMX Riders.
According to Jon Plodzik, director of dining, Party in the Park was probably the most work to put together because of having to deal with parking, facilities, and making sure the Red Bull riders had enough room to perform.
“The event was very different and we’ve never done one like it at this time of year,” said Plodzik. “There was a lot of planning and behind the scenes work that had to be done.”
Stillings area manager Andrew Porter also said that Party in the Park involved a great deal of preparation.
“It’s a lot of work,” said Porter. “But it makes it easier if the students appreciate it because we try to raise the bar.”
The menu for the party included barbeque chicken sandwiches, sausages, vegan wraps, whoopie pies, fried dough, and more. Porter said that was one of the challenges, as well.
“There’s a lot of pre-planning for an event like this when it comes to the menu,” said Porter. “We prepared a lot of the menu in advance.”
Red Bull is a contracted vendor to UNH Dining and is the official supplier of energy drinks to the campus, offering free bottles at the event. As part of their contract, Red Bull must provide two events a year, typically one each semester, said Plodzik.
“We’ve been with Red Bull for a number of years now,” Plodzik said. “They like the venue and they like to have students try their product.”
Aside from offering free bottles of their product at the event, three of Red Bull’s TNT BMX riders put on a couple of freestyle exhibitions for students, performing stunning jumps in front of an appreciative UNH crowd. Plodzik was particularly impressed by the stunts.
“It was really something,” he said.
Last year, Red Bull had a sky diving team come to campus. Porter said an event like that is good, but it didn’t offer much for dining to do.
“We wanted more for dining this time,” said Porter. “I thought it went really well.”
According to Porter, 3,800 students showed up.
“It was a good turnout,” said Porter. “Especially since Philbrook was open during the event.”
Plodzik said that holding all of these events in such a short time frame is a lot of work, but it’s rewarding.
“It’s certainly been a lot of work for our crew,” said Plodzik. “It’s a challenge, but the end products are very rewarding.”
After all of these events, UNH Dining has a little time to rest now, which Plodzik said is well deserved.
