After spending a semester at Penn, Wharton freshman Adam Victor began to miss his native city of New York -- especially the party scene. This semester, he decided to do something about it.
Victor, with the help of some of his friends, formed Five Borough Productions, geared toward throwing and promoting parties for Penn students and the greater Philadelphia area.
The company has thrown two parties in the past six weeks. The first one, held in late January, was themed "Winter Wonderland," and the second one, held last Friday, was called "The Candy Shoppe." Both parties were hosted at the Marathon Grill at 20th and Market streets.
Around 200 people attended the first event, and 250 people attended the second. The attendees -- the majority of whom were freshmen -- had to pay a $10 cover fee.
For Victor, the motivation for organizing these events is not only to throw a good party, but also to provide Penn students with an "alternative to the frat scene."
"Campus life is in a lot of ways dominated by frat culture," Victor said. "There weren't a lot of party options in terms of good dancing, good ambiance ... good overall club-type parties."
"As far as downtown activities especially, there was definitely a niche in the market that wasn't being filled," said College freshman Stinson Parks, one of the organizers of Five Borough Productions.
Several of the organizers noted that hosting the parties is not all fun and games.
In addition to time and energy, a few members have made substantial financial investments.
"Party-throwing is a huge risk," said Victor, who has invested over $1,000 of his own money into the business. He notes that throwing a party can cost upwards of $4,000.
"A lot of work goes into putting on the parties," said Wharton freshman Justin Anderson, one of the main founders and investors of the company. "It's more work than most people think."
The company printed over 2,500 flyers that were distributed around campus, in addition to promoting the parties through word of mouth.
Their efforts have not gone to waste. According to Victor, the group broke even after the Winter Wonderland party and made a profit from the Candy Shoppe party.
Yet Victor said that the parties are not just about making money.
"It's definitely a business ... [but] we wouldn't be investing our money if we didn't want to throw good parties," Victor said.
College freshman Shane Wagman went to the Candy Shoppe party and described her experience as an "enjoyable evening."
"It was kind of average, just a normal party," Wagman said, who noted that the party was "like a more upscale version of a frat party."
"It's always better to go to a party somewhere that's not just a gross house that has sticky beer floors," Wagman said.
College junior Cameron Johnson, who attended Candy Shoppe, said that he didn't see many other upperclassmen there.
"It was mostly a freshman crowd," he said.
Wharton freshman Mike Lloyd, who has attended over 10 parties downtown this year -- including the Winter Wonderland -- called the Candy Shoppe party "one of the best parties I've been to this year so far."
Lloyd described the atmosphere as being "classy" and "fun."
Other people who attended the party agreed that there was a different atmosphere than at many typical parties thrown on campus.
"The downtown parties are more about having a good time rather than a drunken escapade," said College freshman Lucy Maddox, who attended the Winter Wonderland party.
However, members of Five Borough Productions are quick to note that they are not trying to compete with the campus party scene.
"At the end of the day, we're just trying to give people a different option to have a good time," Parks said. "It never hurts to have a good alternative."
Five Borough Productions is currently working on getting the company trademarked and copyrighted.
"The Philadelphia market is huge. ... We've only just begun," Parks said.
