Mountain Day’s afternoon festivities will be held at Haley Farm for the second consecutive year to accommodate the growing number of students participating, Williams Outing Club (WOC) Director Ben Oliver told the Record.
WOC will continue to host Mountain Day at Haley Farm in future years barring significant logistical challenges or lack of permission from the State of Massachusettes, Oliver added.
Last year, WOC moved the afternoon student performances from Stony Ledge — which most students can access only by a several-mile hike — to Haley Farm due to the closure of Sperry Road.
“We don’t have exact numbers, but the guesstimate was that 200 more people were at Haley Farm than had ever come up to Stony Ledge,” Oliver said of last year’s Mountain Day festivities.
Oliver predicted that more students chose to participate because they did not have to hike to reach the site of the student performances. In past years, he added, WOC would drive two 12-person vans for those who didn’t want to hike — but the new location allowed far more non-hikers to attend. According to Oliver, the State of Massachusetts and the Mt. Greylock State Reservation also both suggested during the permitting process that the College move Mountain Day to Haley Farm due to its lack of capacity restrictions.
This year, WOC plans to run 23 buses to Haley Farm on the morning of Mountain Day, Oliver said. After the hectic exit scene at last year’s festivities — where the sizable student crowd elbowed for limited bus seats in the Haley Farm parking lot — WOC is working with the State of Massachusetts to section off an area in the lot to allow the buses to turn around and load passengers more quickly.
Oliver also stressed that students should use College transportation to travel to Haley Farm rather than their own vehicles. “That’s a really small parking area, and we cannot close it to the public,” he said. “If cars start to park illegally … I think that jeopardizes our relationship with the landowners right on that opposite edge.”
Community feedback about Haley Farm — which Oliver said was “by and large … positive” — informed WOC’s decision to move festivites there again this year. After reviewing feedback, WOC also worked to find more hikes that end at Haley Farm, according to Oliver and WOC President Abby Murphy ’25.
“Last year, having Haley Farm as a last-minute location, the hikes didn’t work as smoothly as they had in the past,” Murphy told the Record. “We’ll just have better-developed hikes [this year].”
Oliver said WOC also plans to set up lawn games and activities for students at Haley Farm to complement the refreshments that were provided last year. Oliver and Murphy additionally confirmed that annual student performances will proceed as usual at the new location.
“My hope is that this will be a really great Mountain Day, people really enjoy it, get to go on hikes, and get to be up at Haley Farm, which is super beautiful,” Oliver said.
