Students perform familiar Christmas tunes for over 7,000 attendees

Around 7,000 people converged at the Vines Center late Saturday night on Dec. 3 to experience Christmas in the City. 

For two hours, students and faculty could get cozy in their holiday pj’s or fancy in their Christmas dinner fashion as they took their focus off impending finals to watch fellow students perform renditions of popular Christmas songs.

Performances included Off the Record’s performing “Silver Bells,” Tiz the Szn’s singing “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Quentin’s Quismas Quartet’s singing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and more. 

There were 15 acts and five student-made videos, each one featuring the talents Liberty students possess

Chris Knight, the coordinator of special events for Student Activities, said this Coffeehouse holds a special place in his heart due to the nostalgia it brings him and many other students. 

“This Coffeehouse is called Coffeehouse: Christmas in the City, and it’s all about how Christmas is celebrated in different cities. This event has taken months of planning, marketing and coordinating with acts and artists to ensure that every detail is (covered and) to ensure an experience that the students will remember,” he said. “We’re doing something special, and we think that this theme is one that is near and dear to a lot of students. (From) students who come from far away to students who are from the city, it’s a great time to reminisce on childhood memories and Christmas movies like ‘Home Alone.’”

One of the two Coffeehouse hosts and a member of the Student Activities staff, Jordan Hassler, shared his excitement for his last time hosting Coffeehouse. 

“Spending time building sets and personally writing and designing the script to make sure that everyone has the best experience possible is the thing that I look forward to the most,” Hassler said. “It is exciting to see how much of our hard work these past couple of months has come to fruition, and I am excited to see how the students react.” 

During Coffeehouse: Christmas in the City, the hosts brought people up from the crowd to participate in a “Hot Takes” Christmas game. Hassler asked the crowd to cheer for the answer they chose, and each contestant guessed the crowd’s response to three questions. For each correct answer, they received a $50 gift card.

Before the final act, Student Activities announced the theme for Coffeehouse in the spring of 2023: “Coffeehouse: Exes & XO’s.” They introduced the theme with a video featuring scenes from “The Office,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Little Women” and more romance-related movies and shows. 

Next semester, Coffeehouse will be on March 25. Tryouts will happen on Feb. 13, 14, 17 and 18. Students can buy tickets for next semester’s Coffeehouse by visiting their website. 

Merritt is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion