Despite NYU’s virtual Monday classes, students took Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s announcement of a traditional snow day to heart and waged an all-out snowball fight in Washington Square Park.

The blizzard that began Sunday afternoon dumped a decade-high nearly 20 inches of snow on Washington Square Park, burying benches and filling the fountain. Before the fight began, the park was already lively as students, dog walkers and families enjoyed the winter wonderland.

Looking to make the most of their remote day, students eagerly searched online for snowy activities. Sidetalk, a social media interview series founded in 2019 by two NYU first-years, announced a 3 p.m. snowball fight at Washington Square Park. With over six million followers across online platforms, news of the fight spread quickly, summoning hundreds.

“I looked up ‘snowball fight New York City,’ and I saw a random post on Instagram mentioning Washington Square Park,” Adviti Mishra, who recently moved to the city, told WSN.

Starting near the fountain, crowds gathered to toss snowballs at their fellow New Yorkers. 

“I remember the last snow day, like a month ago — it wasn’t this many people, but I think it’s really cute how everyone is just out here throwing snowballs,” Tisch first-year Kira Maulana said. 

Eventually, after almost an hour of icy barrage, the fight escalated. Multiple pairs of broken glasses and specks of blood littered the snow as parkgoers hurled increasingly larger snowballs. 

“I feel like some people are throwing clumps of snow, and that kind of hurts, so I tried to stay a little bit in the back,” Mishra said.

As a result of the escalation, New York Police Department officers entered the crowd. However, this did not dissuade the snowball fighters but rather heightened the chaos. Over 50 people began launching snow at the officers, who responded by shoving some participants to the ground. As the confrontation attracted a growing crowd, the officers left the park to join with police in front of the Kimmel Center for University Life before being pushed west on Washington Square South.

Over two hours later, as the streetlamps illuminated the park, the snowball fight slowed into a frozen block party. Community members ended the event with smoking, drinking and blasting Bad Bunny’s “NUEVAYoL” through speakers.

“This is a great community — I like that everyone’s coming out here and coming all together to do something fun,” GLS sophomore Angel Paz said.

Contact Zara Surti and Neil Tawney at [email protected].