Who will be the next Tree? That’s the question on the minds of people across campus as Tree Week stunts came to a conclusion yesterday with a flurry of activity during which candidates vied to become the next mascot of the Stanford Band.

As the morning’s blue skies morphed into a driving afternoon rainstorm, candidates performed stunts in various campus locations.

Noah Syme ‘08 opened the day’s festivities with an unorthodox skit in White Plaza. A large column of people wearing white shirts and jeans marched into White Plaza and came to an abrupt halt in front of a confused crowd. Suddenly, all of them fell to the ground, leaving Syme standing alone in the middle.

“When common men fall, the Tree stands tall,” Syme yelled over a bullhorn as he ripped off his white t-shirt to reveal a green one underneath before marching out of White Plaza toward the Row. His supporters, who were lying on the ground, then scattered in different directions.

“Is that it?” asked a disappointed spectator.

The next stunt occurred at Lakeside Dining. Kyle Owen ‘10 entered the dining hall around noon, trumpeting “Fight On,” the USC fight song, and dressed like a Trojan. After a brief scuffle with a supporter, Owen was thrown into a black coffin with tree decorations and the lid was nailed down.

After a few minutes inside the casket, Owen rose from the dead and started banging on the lid; he eventually broke through and emerged covered in strands of green and red tape. He then began to dance to the Band’s rendition of “All Right Now.”

Chris Stiedemann ‘10 was eating lunch in Lag when the stunt occurred.

“It was interesting,” he said. “I wouldn’t describe it as fantastic or especially Tree-worthy.”

Apparently the Tree selection committee agreed with Stiedemann. Later in the day, Owen revealed to his Facebook.com support group “Kyle Owen for Stanford Tree” that he had been eliminated from contention.

“Though I feel it was a poor decision, I must respect the time and patience the former Trees put into making this week awesome,” Owen said after he was cut. “I hope to return next year with a bigger and more bad-ass campaign.”

John Whipple ‘10 arranged an alternative sort of stunt by having an event featuring the new Dollies, who are purportedly part of the Tree selection process.

Three Dollies wearing Power Rangers masks were promised a gift if they could navigate three obstacles. The dancers were attacked by a gorilla suit-wearing student before being chased by a student donning a banana costume. As they approached their gift — a drink mixer floating in the Claw — the Dollies had to fend off one final attack by Whipple, who sprang from the water to ambush the girls.

Throughout the skit, baffled spectators kept their eyes on the Claw as they walked past.

Meagan Moroney ‘10, who wore a skeleton suit with a sign reading “Get Boney for Moroney” all day, later arrived in White Plaza dressed in swim fins, polka dot tights, an Uncle Sam hat and a shirt with several red, white and blue balloons attached.

As she was tied to the Birdcage, Moroney asked spectators to throw darts at the balloons. For every white balloon that was popped, Moroney said, she would eat a raw egg. She offered to eat sardines for blue balloons, and said she would drink hot sauce for popped red balloons. She put on a snorkeling mask for protection before onlookers let loose with their darts.

Moroney taunted the crowd throughout the stunt.

“What are you scared of?” she yelled as the darts hurtled toward her. “I’m the one tied up — take your best shot. I’ll bet anyone 20 bucks I don’t vomit.”

A dozen raw eggs, three quarters of a bottle of hot sauce and two canisters of sardines later, all the balloons lay popped on the ground and Moroney was untied. She did not vomit.

“Meagan for Tree,” she yelled.

Tree Week coordinator and current Tree Tommy Leep ‘07, would not disclose candidates who had already been cut, but he confirmed that final interviews would take place today and that the new Tree would be announced early tomorrow morning.