The cancellation of Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Lily’s Classic fundraiser and party did not deter hundreds of Badgers who gathered on icy Lake Mendota, carrying cans of beer and colorful BORGs, on a warm February afternoon.
The lyrics “There’s no stopping us right now” sung by Calvin Harris echoed over Lake Mendota as hundreds of students gathered on the ice and hundreds more packed nearby bars and backyards.
For the past 12 years, Lily’s Classic has raised thousands of dollars for epilepsy research. As it has grown in notoriety, Lily's has regularly attracted thousands of students every year, making it one of the largest annual parties on campus.
Despite its popularity, SAE announced Lily’s would be canceled just a week before its highly anticipated Feb. 14 date. The fraternity decided it did not want to be held liable for property damage and injuries during the event, something the University of Wisconsin-Madison had negotiated with them early this year.
On Saturday morning, SAE held a private social event with fraternity members and select guests, barricaded behind fences guarded by private security. Despite its alleged non-affiliation with the Lily’s Classic, SAE members sported hockey jerseys, even frequently bearing old Lily’s logos.
When asked about Lily’s cancellation, UW-Madison sophomore and SAE member Julian Meyer said he was “very upset.”
“Donating to epilepsy is a big deal for us and being inhibited from that is a big deal,” Meyer told The Daily Cardinal.
By early afternoon, a crowd of at least 500 students braved the lake's slushy surface to enjoy the party. Some groups tossed around footballs and played hockey while most chatted and drank while enjoying the warm weather.
“People still showed up,” said UW-Madison junior Joel Hillman while sitting at a table playing euchre. “They canceled it too late. They can’t cancel something like that. There's too much spirit in it.”
UW-Madison students weren’t the only ones by the lake on Saturday. The ice was also populated by families, a Monster Energy truck and ice fishers.
Any substantial police presence or university interference was notably missing. The university’s only apparent acknowledgment of the event was locking the lakeside entrances to the Memorial Union. The only clear casualties being mass littering and the Lily’s charity itself.
SAE raised nearly $18,000 for epilepsy research last year, including GoFundMe donations, hockey tickets and a portion of alcohol sales from Kollege Klub. As of Feb. 15, SAE’s 2026 GoFundMe raised just $4,217, primarily from individual donations. By canceling the hockey tournament, SAE did not raise funds in the form of entrance fees, and some students said they believe epilepsy research suffered as a result.
“I feel like a lot of times epilepsy is the butt of the joke,” said UW-Madison junior Sophie Heckel, sporting an I Heart Epileptics t-shirt. “If [Lily’s] at least is a positive rhetoric in somebody's mind…let it be that and don’t cancel it. I think [the cancellation is] arguably doing more harm than good because, see, people are still gonna be out here.”
UW-Madison senior Ellie Applin emphasized the importance of student persistence. “It's what we do as Badgers. We party here, work hard, play hard. This is our play hard.”
Even after its cancellation, Lily's drew a crowd that could only be matched by the Mifflin Street Block Party. Like Mifflin straying from its roots as a Vietnam War protest, Lily's seems to have grown beyond its role as a fraternity charity event and into a Badger tradition, something that takes more than a last-minute cancellation to stop.
