The Weekender: Club Poon 5.0~

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.

Swatties, swatties, swatties.

It’s been a long, grueling week for all of us. I can guess I’m not alone in saying that Caribbean bar has been the highlight of my week so far. But get ready for those plantains and jerk tofu to be upstaged by the biggest event to hit Swarthmore since, well, the last time it happened. Club Poon is back, everyone, and with it comes the raging insanity of a badly-lit, sticky-floored, smoky-aired Paces party. Club Poon is especially distinguished in that it may be the only party at Swarthmore named after a person. (Don’t be deceived by the ambiguous suggestion of the name).

Preston Poon ‘14 started Club Poon as a glorified birthday party with a club theme and an amazingly non-clichéd  collection of music. The public loved it so much that the Poon parties have continued endlessly. By now, Preston Poon has achieved such legendary status that he owns the name of the wildest, most neon-themed party to hit Swarthmore since Swatglow (bonus: Club Poon is free of the plasticky paint that permanently adheres to your hair and clothing).

This will be not the first, nor the second, but the third incarnation of Club Poon to occur just this year. Each time, we were promised spectacular events on the level of champagne fountains, mysterious ‘refreshments’, and everything that can possibly be made glowing and neon. So get ready to look your frattiest with bright sunglasses and a white tank top that shines in the black light. Wrap as many glow sticks as you can fit around your bulging forearms. Put two (different colored!) glow sticks together and fasten ‘em round your neck so that everywhere you go, your face is weirdly illuminated in sickly green and yellow. If that doesn’t scream attractive, I don’t know what does. Pile on the neon and get ready to glow brighter than you’ve ever glowed before.

The best part about Club Poon is that even if it doesn’t deliver the fancy, exciting, neon-blacklit rager it promises, it still delivers a damn good party. Alcohol flows, if not in champagne fountains, at least off the sticky Paces counter onto the even stickier floor. The smell of Pub Nite’s stale beer that can never truly be washed away from Paces will be masked by the smell of Saturday’s sugary, fruity alcoholic drinks. Discarded glow sticks scattered across the floor will illuminate the tripping hazards and maybe prevent you from stepping on too many feet.

So if you are dying to be up to your shoulders in glow sticks, breathing the sweet air of Paces once again, and personally taking part in the culmination of a campus-renowned event, Club Poon is the place for you to be this Saturday night!
Don’t miss it. It won’t miss you.

Thanks to Preston Poon ’14 for supplying information.

Correction: The Daily Gazette originally reported Preston Poon is a senior. He is a junior.