On April 14, 2026, TRU saw its first-ever carnival take place in the middle of campus. The event, hosted by TRUSU, featured a Ferris wheel and Drop Tower as well as food trucks and entertainment.
Parth Patel, the event coordinator at TRUSU, told The Omega that he had wanted to do something bigger and more memorable for students on the last day of classes. The idea of the carnival, he said, is to eventually become a replacement for the “Last Class Bash” event that usually occurs every year, but also to become something bigger and be a TRU tradition to celebrate the end of the main academic year.
“We wanted to do an event that was more inclusive,” Patel said. “We have a big undergraduate program and a lot of students who are still under the age of 19 in their first year. They are unable to participate in some festivities.”
The idea was to create an event that catered to more students on campus. The Last Class Bash was only available to students 19 and older, leaving many first- and second-year students who were still under 19 with no real way to celebrate the end of the semester. The TRUSU Carnival introduced the idea of hosting a dry event on-site while still retaining the fun and entertainment elements of a year-end celebration.
“One of the conversations we had after last year’s Last Class Bash was that we should investigate alternative events for the end of the year,” Patel said. “The very first conversation started there, but we didn’t know what we could replace.”
TRUSU was brainstorming ideas that didn’t seem too unreachable or crazy, yet could still deliver an even bigger impact for students than the Last Class Bash. The idea eventually evolved into the possibility of TRUSU talking to vendors to see whether actual rides could be brought to TRU and hosted on campus, Patel told The Omega, adding that the plan was given a thumbs-up back in January.
Many people and organizations were involved in planning the entire carnival, making it possible in the first place. Discussions and arrangements were made with insurance companies, vendors and with the university itself to ensure that TRUSU had permission to host the carnival on campus grounds.
“Once we get those things sorted out, we work with other vendors to make sure we have a stage, music, food trucks and all that,” Patel said. “It starts from the safety and insurance perspective and then we want to make sure something like this is feasible in the middle of campus.”
Since the campus had not hosted a carnival before, this year’s event was considered a pilot. Prior to the event, Patal implied that if all went well behind the scenes, TRUSU might consider building on it, including possibly increasing the number of days the event could run, different start times or adding more rides, though nothing is promised. The same was said for the TRU Welcome Back BBQ, which started with only a few vendors and has since grown into an annual TRU tradition at the start of each academic year in September.
“I’m hoping this becomes a tradition like the Back to School Barbeque has become,” Patel said.
As TRU is very important to Patel, he wants students and staff alike to make memories on campus.
“I want students to think ‘I was at TRU and on my last day of classes I went on the Ferris wheel and mega drop, listened to music and had some great food,’” he told The Omega.
Patel said the carnival couldn’t be possible without the collaboration of different TRU departments and facilities or their support, as a project like this wasn’t easy to put together. All the assistance from the different departments makes it possible for events like the TRU Carnival to happen on campus, and the hope is that the carnival can become a regular event and eventually be something students look forward to every year at the end of the winter semester.