On Friday, December 1, 2023, Stockton’s Literature Club hosted its first-ever Jane Austen Regency Ball in the Lakeside Lodge from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. The club served light refreshments and desserts, and attendees were welcome to partake in dancing, foam sword duels, card games, and DIY hand fan-making. Historical attire was highly encouraged, and many of the guests followed suit.

The Lodge was decorated with gold candelabras on tables covered in rose petals, along with flower vines that descended down two stone pillars. Paintings of the Victorian, Baroque, and Regency eras were also posted sporadically throughout the room. The lighting was dimmed except for the glow of some tea candles and plastic candle lights in the candelabras. A spread of finger foods was available for guests along the far wall.

The night was spent with a great deal of dancing. Songs ranged from classical music from artists like Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Camille Saint-Saens, to the spirited music of popular contemporaries like “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers. At one point in the evening, attendees gathered into a large group and performed a choreographed dance to “Rasputin” by Boney M.

When the secretary of Literature Club, Elizabeth Myers, was asked about the inspiration behind the event, they responded, “I’m a huge history nerd…and I really like historical dress. This semester, we were thinking of different events and fundraisers that we could do. We had thought of possibly doing a movie night to watch Pride and Prejudice (2005), or another book-to-movie adaptation. And then we were like, ‘well, what if we included some refreshments [and] some costumes?’ and then that eventually turned into this.”

When asked about the goal of the event, they stated, “We wanted to get the club on the map with something fun to close out the semester…we were initially hoping to fundraise at the event as well, but the proceeds ultimately had to go toward offsetting event-related costs.” Stockton Literature Club does, however, plan to fundraise with its annual Bad Fanfiction Read-a-Thon event at the end of the Spring semester.

For more information on Literature Club, you can visit Ospreyhub. They meet at 4:30 p.m. in the Creative Writing Lab (F-218) every Thursday.