Cirque Du Sigma Comes to Campus

Participants exchange hard-won tickets for a variety of cool prizes. 
Photo by Sarah White

Come one, come all, to the greatest show on campus!

Concord University played host to its very own carnival on Thursday, September 17, courtesy of the Sigma Sigma Sigma sisters.

Cirque Du Sigma was one of many philanthropic efforts made by the Tri-Sigma girls, and veteran sister Sarah White was the one responsible for the creation of the whole thing.

“The idea for a circus-style event came to me as I was listening to the radio,” White explained. “I heard some circus music and the idea just popped into my head, so I grabbed it and ran with it.”

The carnival featured several family-friendly games and contests, like giant Jenga, balloon busting, a football toss game, general trivia, giant Twister, and the classic knock-down-the-cans game, among many others. Participants had the opportunity to play these games and win tickets, which they could later turn in for fun prizes. Players could win anything from a free Made-to-Order Sheetz item to stuffed animals to even free oil changes and gift cards.

After months of planning, White and the Sigma Sigma Sigma sisters were rewarded with an impressive $300, which will go straight to supporting their philanthropy, the Robbie Paige Memorial Fund.

“The Robbie Page Memorial Fund was founded in 1954 in order to help find a cure for polio. After the successful vaccination was created, the Robbie Page Memorial Fund shifted to building and maintaining play therapy rooms for children in hospitals across the country,” White said.

While $300 is a generous donation to a worthy charity, the sisters of Sigma Sigma Sigma take their philanthropy very seriously and aren’t finished with their fundraising for the year yet. “We will probably have more charity events throughout the semester. We want to be able to send the Robbie Page Memorial Fund as much money as we possibly can at the end of the year,” said White.

Many members of the surrounding community brought their children to the carnival to enjoy an evening of music, games, and wholesome family fun. Children swarmed the Valley, giggling and dashing from one game to the next, hordes of tickets clutched in their fists. A particular hit for the kids was definitely the face painting, done by the talented sisters themselves.

In fact, the community involvement in this event was so great that the Athens population outnumbered the participation from Concord students themselves. “The turnout from the community was great, which I loved, but I wish more of the Concord community would have come out and enjoyed the festivities. We had lots of great prizes, including lots of coupons for free food!” White joked good-naturedly.

By the time the event got into full swing, it was apparent that the only people having more fun than the kids were the Sigma Sigma Sigma sisters themselves. They were dancing, laughing, chasing each other with water cannons, and just generally having a good time and giving the event a light, happy atmosphere.

White and the rest of the Sigmas put on a fun evening for the university and the surrounding community, and they raised $300 for an extremely worthy cause, proving that Cirque Du Sigma really was the greatest show on campus.