If this recent cold weather spell has left you feeling boxed-in, get yourself – or your roommates – out of the apartment and into some new hobbies at Iowa State’s semiannual menagerie of after-class organizations, ClubFest.

ClubFest II – the first is held early in the fall – will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. It will feature more than 140 organizations from all walks of university life.

Jennifer Garrett, program coordinator for the Memorial Union, thinks the event is a good opportunity for those looking to fill their free time. She also doesn’t think Wednesday’s weather – temperatures 20 degrees and lower, with possible snow showers, according to Weather.com – will deter potential club-seekers.

“I think people who want to get involved are looking for opportunities, and it’s a great way to find out about a great deal of clubs in a short period of time,” Garrett said.

Ian Guffy, senior in computer science and president of ISU Hillel, a campus group that celebrates Jewish culture, said ClubFest is the way his group attracts the most new members.

“Every ClubFest I’ve attended for Hillel, I’ve run into at least one person who’s Jewish that didn’t realize we had a Jewish group on campus,” Guffy said.

He said that to stand out, Hillel has passed out buttons with “Oy,” a Yiddish word, on them.

“They’ve been popular,” Guffy said.

Colin McChesney, president of the ISU Fencing Club and sophomore in mechanical engineering, also has a trick to get eventgoers to his table – he and fellow club members wear their fencing uniforms.

“A lot of people stare, but it actually brings a lot of people into our booth,” McChesney said.

“A lot of people don’t know we’re on campus, so when they see someone walk around in a white uniform and a sword, they come and check us out.”

ClubFest has been effective in recruiting new members to the fencing club, McChesney said.

“We usually have 20 to 30 people come in and start learning right after ClubFest,” he said.

Winter ClubFest is different from the one in the fall in that it’s smaller and that its audience doesn’t have such a large proportion of incoming freshmen.

“It’s nice. It’s a little more relaxed,” Guffy said.

Another difference this semester is how Greek affairs will be represented, Garrett said.

“Greek affairs has organized their own fair in conjunction with ClubFest,” she said. “The [governing] councils will be represented at ClubFest, but any chapter could promote its individual group in the Gallery Room.”

For a list of the clubs that will have tables at ClubFest, visit www.sac.iastate.edu/clubfest.