UW-Madison students celebrated the first-ever full day of canceled classes with a snowball fight on Bascom Hill Wednesday.
Past and present residents from the lake shore dorms won the fight, which was fought against those from the southeast dorms.
""We just don't have what it takes to win a snowball fight,"" said Greg Stravinski, a junior and Witte Hall resident who fought for the southeast dorms.
Stravinski admited the lake shore dorms easily won the fight.
""Southeast comes out stylish,"" he said. ""We're all prettied up and the second the snow starts flying we get worried ... lake shore is always there until it's over.""
Most of the snowball attendees wore standard winter attire, but some of the more enthusiastic students donned goggles, helmets, shields, gorilla and penguin costumes, gigantic slingshots and shovels.
One student from Witte left all his winter gear behind and charged Bascom Hill in only his boots and underwear on a $45 bet.
UWPD Sgt. Tamara Kowalski said the snowball fight was a fun student event and estimated 3,000 people were on Bascom Hill, including Chancellor Biddy Martin, who was there taking pictures.
Lauren Jernegan, a UW-Madison freshman, organized the event with her roommate and her high school friend. Jernegan said the three of them invited 100 people each through Facebook. The event eventually reached 20,000 invites, with over 5,000 people accepting the invitation.
Jernegan said she got the idea for the snowball fight from the UW student who organized it last year in an attempt to break the record for the largest snowball fight held by Michigan Tech.
Jernegan said she wasn't trying to beat the record this year, but did it for fun instead.
