by ALICE ANICHKIN
Sorority girls (and the rest of Cornell) rejoice! Yogurtland is hosting a three-week long competition called ‘Fro-Down,’ that began April 14, between Ithaca College and Cornell students. Hoping to motivate students to come out, Yogurtland offered three ounces off fro-yo for the first two days of the competition. Each week, a new challenge is hosted at Yogurtland, located on South Meadow Street for the grand prize of 20 percent off students of the winning school’s purchase for the entire month of May. “So far it’s great,” says manager George Oliver, “We actually ran out of yogurt the other day, but we’re making sure that doesn’t happen again.” Ithaca College and Cornell students alike are buzzing about the competition, packing into the Ithaca hotspot daily.
Week One, which began this past Monday and continues through Sunday, April 20, calls for students to present their best ‘School Pride Pix’. Following that, Week Two calls for IC and Cornell students to participate in a ‘Spin-the-Wheel’ game between Monday, April 21 and Sunday April 27. The final week, worth double the first two challenges and the most enticing-sounding, asks the Big Red community and Ithaca Bombers to go head to head in ‘Pimp-My-Fro-Yo’ between April 28 and May 4. The school that wins the most challenges is hailed the winner. In the event of a tie, the schools with the most active participants win. Thus, it is encouraged that all students must present their school IDs in order to participate in the challenges. “I think this contest is a great way to spark up a healthy competition between Ithaca College and us,” Rohan Bhatia ‘16 said, “and I can’t think of a better victory treat.”“I think this contest is a great way to spark up a healthy competition between Ithaca College and us, and I can’t think of a better victory treat.”
Frozen yogurt has a growing presence in the Ithaca community, with the wildly popular Smart Yogurt located on Elmira Rd. and the host, Yogurtland, just outside campus. Both locations are common hangouts for both IC and Cornell students. “Fro-yo is the classic go to after dinner, so it’s great that we could possibly get a discount for an entire month,” Melissa Kowalski 16’ said. With fro-yo being a popular staple of many Cornellians’ diets, a month long, 20 percent discount is quite enticing.
This year’s ‘Fro-Down’ is the first one in history. When asked who the brainchild of the idea was, Oliver responded, “I would love to take credit for that. It’s actually Kelsey Lynch 14’ who came up with the idea to put everything together.” Lynch has been a Brand Marketing Intern for Ithaca’s Yogurtland since January. “I think the main inspiration was school rivalry. Despite the fact that Cornell and IC are so nearby, we did not think either school really viewed the other as a rival. We wanted to generate some friendly competition between the two at a local level where each school has real incentive to participate,” Lynch said. Indeed, despite the close proximity of the two universities, there is rarely a battleground for competition. ‘Fro-Down’ provides a friendly way for the two schools to duke it out. Further, the contest comes just in time for the tiny slice of sunny Ithaca weather we receive. “We figured since Ithaca will finally have nice weather (fingers crossed) this would be a great way to reward the winning school,” Lynch said. Undeniably, fro-yo is the ideal dessert on a (rare) hot, Ithaca day.
“Predictions?” ponderered Oliver, “That is tough. I think I’ll leave that up to the schools. We think both people have advantages and disadvantages. Cornell trumps IC in terms of people, but IC really wants it.” While manager George Oliver is confident in the abilities of both schools, it’s up to Cornell students to take the prize. Students are encouraged to flock to 740 South Meadow Street now until May 4 to participate in the festivities. Information about the ‘Fro-Down’ is available on twitter and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/YogurtlandIthaca or http://www.twitter.com/yogurtlandITHAC.