Thursday nights in Huden Dining Hall’s Spartan Room were once the place to be for the weekly Pub Night events featuring great music, free pizza and cold drinks. The turnout of both students and faculty often had the room overflowing with people. But almost as quickly as the event started, it abruptly stopped and the room went quiet once more.

Now, after almost a two-year hiatus, Castleton Pub Night is making a triumphant comeback to its community and in stronger form than ever. Feb. 15 marked the official return of the event to campus. With more than 60 people in attendance, the night was filled with several live acts from student and faculty performers.

Many of the performers, including freshman Rebecca Scelza, saw the flyers around campus and were eager to come.

“It’s harder for me to perform with smaller groups,” said Scelza, who sang several Taylor Swift covers on her acoustic guitar. “Events like this are a good way for students like me to get people to hear their music and have support from their friends.”

And according to Professor Phil Lamy, whose Community in American Society class started Pub Night, it’s people like Scezla who need to be recognized by administration.

“The school spends money to bring in musicians and comedians for live events. But why? We have great performers in the student body that more people will show up to see,” he said.

Although Lamy’s class started Pub Night, it has since then fallen into the hands of several student managers to lead and coordinate.

Senior Wyatt Andrews, who has been the most active member of managing the weekly event since his sophomore year, says that now is a very important time for the event and he explained its absence.

“When I left to go to Peru for a year, my biggest regret was not leaving proper management behind to keep it going,” said Andrews, who added that a lack of funding has also hurt what once was a weekly event. “We had successful nights that paid for themselves. People showed up regularly without having to see ads.”

Pub Night is now being managed by more than a dozen people in Lamy’s Community in American Society Class for this semester and is receiving support from the newly established Third Place Group, an umbrella organization of the Center for the Support and Study of Community in charge of such things as the Bike Shed and the Brough Pond Park project on campus.

Despite lack of funding, those in charge remain optimistic about its necessity to the campus and remain true to the original goals and ambitions behind the event to eventually have a full-time pub on campus.

“It’s something that should be there every day all of the time,” Andrews said firmly. “It’s not just about the music or beer. It’s about having a place where people can really go to hang out and be welcome on campus.