You don’t always need an excuse to host a day party or ‘darty’—usually, just a backyard—but this past St. Patrick’s Day saw an overwhelming number of afternoon get-togethers, even by Montreal standards. With spring weather rearing its head, darties per capita can be expected to skyrocket. But what makes Montreal and McGill such great places to host darties? Are they any different from the festivities in university towns like Kingston? Who invented the darty?
Day drinking, presumably, is about as old as normal drinking, and we have records of ancient Greek men hosting intellectual banquets called symposiums. Literally meaning “drinking together,” the participants would argue over philosophy and show off their nice items, which is by all means pretty similar to a modern-day darty.
The term first surfaced on Urban Dictionary in 2008, but has gained more traction in recent years after being published on accounts popular among university students like Barstool Sports and university publications such as the Ohio State University’s The Odyssey and the University of Maine’s Her Campus.
The Tribune reached out to students who have hosted and attended darties to get their take on the darty scene at McGill. Meave Harrington, U3 Arts and a Montreal local, talked about how she first learned about darties through her family.
“The first time I heard of the term darty was from my older sisters who also went to McGill,” she said. “They were preparing me and really hyping darties up and saying it’s a great opportunity to come together with your friends on a really nice day and relax from all the schoolwork.”
Harrington also praised the city for being extremely darty-friendly.
“I’ve hosted darties in Jeanne-Mance, and that’s a great place for a lot of people to come together and play things like spikeball, or even bring a pong table,” Harrington said.
Kirk Slocum, U1 Arts, felt that there was no major difference between throwing darties in Montreal compared to other schools in the area. Nevertheless, he acknowledged that the high number of students who live off-campus creates a strong party culture.
“I don’t know if McGill specifically is a better place to host darties compared to other schools, but the fact that all students are forced to have apartments after first year means that there’s a greater percentage of students living in the student neighbourhoods,” Slocum said. “They form a good community, and a good community is better for parties.”
In Montreal, drinking in parks is permitted before 8 p.m. if accompanied by food, which makes the city more welcoming to picnic darties. However, McGillians have had mixed experiences with police enforcement shutting down their events.
“I feel like the only downfall about darties is that the cops can come through even though it’s 3 p.m. on a Saturday. You can get unlucky,” Harrington shared.
Slocum, however, found that the police were relatively relaxed when it came to daytime events. He also expressed no preference when comparing darties to parties, though he’s hosted two of the former in the past.
“I personally like darties but not any more than parties. And I don’t know if there’s any difference between them; it’s just that when a darty’s done, you can still go do stuff after,” Slocum said.
On the other hand, Harrington emphasized her appreciation for darties, highlighting how good weather and open space can be conducive to making new connections.
“I really like darties, and I know so many other people that do because it’s a really wholesome event,” she said. “Parties are a bit cliquey-er, I feel like the crowds at darties are more outgoing. Everyone likes to be outside. Parties are dark and cramped, while darties are bright and open.”
With the late spring snowstorm (hopefully) behind us, now’s a great time to consider planning a darty for yourself! All it takes to host a successful one is daylight hours and a group of willing friends. With that in mind, whether you need a break from studying or just finished your final exams, it’s the perfect time to darty the day away.
