Harvard students who just spent their summers in locales near and far bumped into each other—literally—for the first time this fall at a Friday evening carnival in Tercentenary Theatre.

While families and a Ferris Wheel were nowhere to be found, revelers donning henna tattoos and balloon hats filled the Yard, as the three-hour event attracted 7,000 people, according to organizers’ estimates.

“I’m so happy we’re all normal,” said Tiffany M. Bradshaw ’10.

Students, faculty and staff tested their strength at Bell-Striker, bowled backwards, and soaked campus hotshots in Dunk Tank.

The big men—and women—on campus who were dunked included the original “fun czar” and now Loker Commons project manager, Zachary A. Corker ’04; Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67; Undergraduate Council (UC) President John S. Haddock ’07; and Women’s Center Director Susan B. Marine.

Students who won tickets at the games were able to cash them in for prizes like DVDs, $200 gift certificates to the Coop and stuffed animals.

With pop music blaring in the background, students munched on caramel apples, cotton candy, popcorn, corn dogs, and cheeseburgers as they convened on the grass or on Widener and Memorial Church steps.

“I’m just having fun dancing with my roommates,” said Sophie Rengarajan ’10 of Grays Hall. “We all got matching hats. It’s roommate-bonding night.”

Despite spending almost an hour in line for the bumper cars, Oliver A. Horovitz ’08 said, “I wish we had this when I was a freshman because this is about 800 times cooler than the ice cream social.”

The student-run College Events Board (CEB), funded by $200,000 from University Hall, planned the carnival—the first in a series of activities, including the Harvard-Yale Pep Rally in the fall and Yardfest in the spring, slated for this year.

The CEB this fall assumed responsibility for social programming, previously a task reserved for the UC.

Campus Life Fellow John T. Drake ’06 oversaw the planning and execution of the carnival.

“I think this event shows off what the CEB is capable of, and I’m looking forward to a fantastic year of great events,” he wrote in an e-mail.

—Staff writer Doris A. Hernandez can be reached at dahernan@fas.harvard.edu.