Upon hearing the words “free” and “food” I knew I had to go to the Spoke on Saturday, October 4th. There was a little booth set up at the Spoke to celebrate and get students pumped for upcoming Western Mustang football games as well as advertise upcoming volunteer opportunities. When I arrived I received a free official Western pre-game t-shirt and a silly band in the shape of a house (I assume it is a logo, but I don’t recognize it). There were a few students, who while running the booths, were happily chatting with incoming people and holding buckets for donations. After tossing in a toonie I was directed to where they were serving the free food.

Now here comes the best part: food critiquing! The people at the Spoke were serving meat and vegetarian chilli. Delicious toppings such as sour cream, marble cheese, diced onions and chips were laid out on the counter of the bar. Although free chilli is always great, I found the taste a little bland. My personal preference is that chilli should be spicy, but I can’t blame them because it was free anyways. I’ll have to give the chilli a 6/10.

Whilst eating my chilli I sat at a booth with my friends. There was a DJ blasting music really loudly and I couldn’t hear my friends talking beside me. The DJ was good and listening to music while eating is nice, but not when it’s too early in the day. So I sat there, music blaring, chilli reverberating in my stomach because of the beat and the bass. My eardrums were crying for some peace and quiet.

Though this was not much of an event, I think that giving away free stuff and setting up a little booth is a successful and effective way to inform students about upcoming Mustang football games and volunteer opportunities. I hope more simple events like this arise in the future because it’s a great way to raise spirit! Go Western! We the purple!