Roll Out the Red Carpet

The Purple Key Society is celebrating the annual Purple Pride Day festivities in Hollywood style. The theme to this year’s event, which will be Feb. 1, is “Holy Cross: Where Stars are Born.”

“Purple Pride Day is way to showcase our school spirit,” says Purple Key Society chair Heather Martone ’08, an English major with a prelaw concentration from Lynbrook, Long Island, N.Y.

Martone says this year’s theme was chosen because it provides many creative opportunities to decorate the campus, and the idea isn’t too far fetched. A fair share of Holy Cross alumni have enjoyed the spotlight and red carpet over the years.

Karen Baldwin ’85 is producer of the Oscar-winning film Ray; actress Ann Dowd ’78 has starred in television shows, such as House, and frequently appears in films, most recently Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers; Peter Jankowski ’86 produces Law & Order as president of Wolf Films; theater maven Bartlett Sher ’81 is director of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical The Light in the Piazza; and Bob Wright ’65 is former chairman and CEO of NBC Universal.

Purple Key organizers will sell Purple Pride Day T-shirts emblazoned with “Holy Cross” atop the Hollywood hills on Feb. 1 in Hogan 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for $10.

Each year, Purple Key members wake up at 5 a.m. to dress up the campus — and the students — in purple. Kimball Dining Hall will be decked with stars and signs, and “Hollywood” will be painted on the Hogan 1 windows.

Cookies, candy, hot chocolate, coffee, and tea will be available in academic buildings from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., says Martone. Dinner in Kimball will feature purple iced cupcakes.

On Feb. 2 at 11 a.m. in Crossroads, Purple Key will host a breakfast and offer free giveaways of pom poms, cups and beads. Off the Record, an a capella group on campus in which some Purple Key members sing, will perform.

In keeping with tradition, the events will culminate with a basketball game. The Holy Cross men’s basketball team will face Lehigh on Feb. 2 at noon, where Crusader fans hope to blast the competition with — you guessed it — lots of purple pride.

“We hope everyone will come out to the game wearing their Purple Pride Day shirts in a show of school spirit,” Martone says.

Who knows — the next Karen Baldwin or Bart Sher might be in the crowd.