On Saturday, October 22, 2022 Brown sponsored a full lighting of WaterFire for two special occasions: the 50th anniversary of Brown’s medical school and Family Weekend. For this lighting, the University asked a number of undergraduate and graduate student leaders to assist the lighting process. Amienne (UFB Chair), Arjun (UFB Vice Chair), Mina (UCS Vice President), and Carina and Sally (CCB Senior Co-Presidents) were all guest lighters while Ricky (UCS President) was a torch bearer.
A week in advance of the lighting, we got an email from President Paxson titled “Invitation to join Brown at WaterFire as a guest lighter.” A few days later, we received an email from the Office of University Communications advising us to “please see the following important details in preparation for the event.” Now, we’ve each seen about three WaterFires during our times at Brown, and to be honest, I have been impressed as heck by the people on the boats. The way they cruise along the river, lighting and relighting stacks of precariously balanced wood while balancing on even more precarious boats. So we thought there’d be some kind of training. You know. Something like, ‘here’s what you’ll be doing and here’s how you don’t incinerate yourself.’ But no. The “important details in preparation for the event” included arriving at the Dyer Dock no later than 5:45 p.m. and that we will then “board WaterFire’s wood boats where you will receive a safety speech from your captain.” Once we’re already on the boats. So we were real experts at this point; experts carrying 5 feet long blazing torches in front of thousands of people. The crew told us, “Once we leave the deck, we are part of the artwork.” And on that note, we drove off.
Main takeaways: 1) Our captain nearly ran into President Paxson. 2) You light the stacks of wood by lighting a combination of wax and wood that the crew calls “cupcakes.” 3) The University will and does put students into hazardous situations as long as the situations are cool. :)
The bottom line is that being a part of WaterFire was an absolutely unforgettable experience. And the best part is anyone can volunteer! The organizer on deck told us that WaterFire is in fact actively looking for younger generations to get more involved with the lighting. Definitely recommend.
UFBuddies (Amienne Spencer-Blume ‘23 and Arjun Krishna Chopra ‘25)