“Keene State students wouldn’t do this. This isn’t us. This isn’t anything that the Keene State community would stand for. We’re better than this,” junior Cody Shanks said while looking out from his front porch on Blake Street in Keene, N.H.
According to Shanks, the riots that occurred near the Keene State College campus on Oct. 17 and 18 after a day of partying at off-campus residences during the 24th Annual Keene Pumpkin Fest were right in front of his house.
“I walked outside and I saw a fire in the streets and I saw kids running around the street just breaking things and taking signs out of the ground,” Shanks said, “Some kids took a pool table and threw it into the fire.”
Shanks, however, said this is not how the parties during this year’s Pumpkin Fest started.
Shanks continued, “It’s just terrible. It began as just a weekend full of parties in backyards where kids usually just get together with friends and drink. It’s our big event here and everyone always gets really excited for it.”
Hannah Haggerty, who was visiting a friend at KSC, said that the parties started out safely.
“This was my first Pumpkin Festival ever. I had always heard things got a little crazy, but the beginning of the day was really fun,” Haggerty said, “I got to see friends and people I hadn’t seen in years.”
Haggerty explained that she drove to Keene early Saturday and was eager to spend time with friends.
“It’s that time of year where everyone is excited to drink outside and celebrate. When I got here [to Keene] at the beginning of the day, everything was still fun and enjoyable. Nothing had gotten out of hand yet,” Haggerty said.
Sophomore Rachel Harmon explained that the day parties that occur during the weekend of Pumpkin Fest usually happen both Friday and Saturday.
“Keene loves Pumpkin Fest. It’s a chance for us to come together as a school. Some people bring friends up and it’s always so fun,” Harmon said, “On Friday we went to a really fun darty on Proctor Street.”
According to Urban Dictionary, an online source for defining slang terms, a darty is “a day party, usually outdoors.”
“The sun was out and everyone there was just having a really good time,” Harmon said,
“When the cops showed up around 4 p.m., all the students left.”
Haggerty said she had heard good things about the party on Proctor Street.
“I wish I came up a day early. All of my friends said that that party was fun and no one got too crazy,” Haggerty said, “That’s all students were looking for. Just a place to have fun and drink with friends. I don’t think anyone set out to start riots or anything. That’s just not the mentality of any of the students I have met here.”
Junior Kelsey Marscher, who said she attended parties on both Friday and Saturday, also said that she enjoyed Friday, but wished things hadn’t escalated like they did.
“We were all having innocent fun. No one was trying to start anything bad,” Marscher said, “I heard there was a little bit of rioting on Friday, but not nearly as bad as Saturday.”
Saturday, the day of the Keene Pumpkin Fest, when pumpkins line Main St. and visitors flood the streets for the annual celebrations, was a different scene on certain off-campus streets.
“I was on Wilcox Street and I think that’s where all the rioting really began. We started out just partying in a backyard and then the cops came and pepper sprayed everyone out of there,” Marscher said, “Everyone was coughing and running around. I saw some girls trip because they couldn’t see anything.”
Marscher continued, “After that, everyone was in the streets.”
Haggerty, who said she was on Wilcox St. around 1:30 p.m., said she had never seen anything like it before. “No one knew what to do. They had all just left the parties and were in the streets, not sure where to go or what to do next. It was the strangest scene,” Haggerty said.
Kyle Bailey / Photo Editor
Haggerty explained that students and their guests began running around more after the police officers pepper-sprayed them off of Wilcox St. “We really didn’t know where to go after that,” Haggerty said, “My friends took me to a party on Winchester Court.”
Marscher said that she attended the party on Winchester Court as well.
“It lasted much longer than anyone expected. We all kept thinking we were going to get kicked out of there by the cops again because everyone was throwing bottles and things were getting crazy,” Marscher said.
“It was fun on the outskirts of the party. If you stayed out of the middle where people were just unnecessarily causing chaos, it was actually fun to just hang around and chat with friends,” Haggerty said.
Carl Shell, a KSC alumnus of 2014, said that he lived in Winchester Court last year and had the party on the Saturday of Pumpkin Fest.
“Yeah, my roommates and I hosted a party last year, but ours wasn’t anything like it’s been this weekend. This has been crazy,” Shell said.
Harmon explained how the day party on Saturday ended.
“The cops eventually came in and kicked everyone out. It was complete madness. People were running everywhere and you couldn’t walk without getting pepper-sprayed,” Harmon said, “Most students went home after that party was broken up, but I believe that’s when the riots started.”
“We just stayed inside. We didn’t want any part of the rioting,” Haggerty said.
The rioting happened as an aftermath to the day parties, but KSC students, like Shanks, said they want people to know that most of the student body does not stand for this.
Shanks said he feels embarrassed for what happened. “[The riots] were just uncalled for. We were trying to have a good weekend, but it got out of hand. It makes us look bad and I really hope people know that this is not what the Keene community set out to do this weekend,” Shanks said.
Shanks continued, “It lasted a good two-and-a-half hours. I went down to the end of the street and asked the police officers to break it up, but they were rude to me.”
After everything that happened during the 24th Keene Pumpkin Fest, KSC junior Ben Flanders said he still had a good weekend.
“It was fun. It was a really fun time, but what happened, happened,” Flanders said, “I’m happy to say I was not a part of the riots. I’m just a Keene student trying to have a good time for the weekend.”
Flanders lives in an off-campus apartment on Blake Street, where the riots occurred.
“When it comes down to it, the students set out to have a good time and then all of this had to happen. I was having a really great Pumpkin Festival, but all of that stuff was just unnecessary. It’s really sad and we know we’re better than that,” Flanders said.
Stephanie McCann can be reached at smccann@keene-equinoc.vlom
