After a long stretch of winter, students came together to celebrate the Winter Coffeehouse that never fails to display the incredible musical talents in the Hackley community.

It was unclear at first whether the Winter Coffeehouse would take place this year due to a rumor that there would only be a fall and spring Coffeehouse. Senior Cassandra Stand explained that Dylan Chalfy, Managing Assistant for Performing Arts and Director of Music Institute, felt that not enough people would show up since the Winter Coffeehouse tends to have the smallest turnout of students, but nonetheless, many students attend and always look forward to it.

When people first got wind that it might not happen, they began demonstrating that there was an interest in going to this event by speaking to others about it and showing that they would attend if given the opportunity. Taking this into consideration, Hackley decided to schedule a Winter Coffeehouse. On February 9th Zetkov Gym was filled with engaged and excited students there to support their fellow classmates.

With musical performances ranging from rock to country, the occasion brought in lots of applause and recognition of all different music genres. Many students sang popular songs from artists such as Etta James and Adele and added their own harmonies to the original sounds.

The event was hosted by seniors Remi Meyers and Ashley Currie who played many fun games with the audience like spill your guts, where contestants had to guess trivia or eat a mysterious food. They also told various jokes and stories to get the crowd riled up in between performances.

One of the performers, freshman Riya Monday sang the popular song “Something in the Orange” by Zach Bryan. Her performance was one of the many amazing solos that was displayed throughout the night, and had many people raving about it afterwards.

“It’s always an exhilarating experience. This was my second time singing at a Coffeehouse so I was a little nervous, but it always ends up being one of the best feelings anytime I come off the stage and see everybody in the audience cheering for me,” Riya said.

Overall, the Winter Coffeehouse was a huge success and brought in crowds of people ready to support all of the outstanding musical performances.

“I’m really happy that I ended up going,” junior Ava Maughan said, “The performances always shock me, and I’m glad that it’s a time when the community can come together and support all of the musical talents.”