At 1:30 p.m. Saturday the gates will open by the Commons Bridge and students will flood South Lot for the second Student Programming Board’s Fall Fest concert.
After last year’s concert, SPB decided they wanted to do it all again. The date for this year’s concert was picked at this time last year, according to SPB President and SGA Vice President for Programing Danielle Imbriano.
“This is one of our largest scale concerts, so it takes a lot of work a lot of months ahead,” Imbriano said.
The idea of originally having the concert right on the Quad was shut down because of issues with the power requirements and not having enough places to pull power, but Imbriano said South Lot was the next best option.
The stage and sound system comes from the outside vendor Atomic. The stage will arrive Friday Imbriano said, and with the help of about 10 staging people from the company, and a number of student volunteers, the stage setup will begin.
Around 6 a.m. Saturday morning, student volunteers will start preparing South Lot for the day’s event. Imbriano says the morning set up is a lot of technical work and making sure all of the outside venders arrive okay.
The bands will arrive early in the morning. A group of students are responsible for decorating rooms for the performers with food and snacks as well as decorations of their favorite things.
“We like to create like a little atmosphere for them so they are not feeling like they are stranded in a classroom,” Imbriano said.
Around 9 a.m. the food trucks will begin to arrive. This year’s food trucks differ from last year’s. There will be a wrap truck, grilled cheese truck, ice cream truck and potato truck for students to choose from.
Students will be able to use Q-cash or regular cash to purchase tickets for the food trucks. Tables will be designated for that purpose and students will simply bring the tickets to the trucks they want. Prices will vary from $1 to $5.
Imbriano says the food trucks are an important aspect to the all-day festival experience.
“It just adds to the novelty aspect of going to an all-day type of festival,” she said.
Junior Michelle Gallagher said she really liked the food truck aspect.
“My favorite part of [Fall Fest] last year was the food trucks, and I am excited to hear the music and spend time with my friends.”
As far as safety is concerned, SPB is hoping the concert goes as smoothly as last year, Imbriano said.
A group of outside concert security will be at the event as well as Public Safety officers, EMT’s, nurses and the pro staff for Campus Life and Student Affairs.
All students will be checked before entering the concert and will not be allowed to bring drinks.
“It’s kind of all hands on deck with that type of thing,” Imbriano said. “Surprisingly everything went very smoothly as far as safety for the students last year.”
Students can enter the concert near the shuttle stop and the Commons bridge.
Last year, Imbriano said students tried to enter through New Road. Students coming from New Road must go around the cafeteria to enter.
“It is just for the artists because that is where their hospitality rooms are so we just don’t want anyone accessing them to disturb them as they are getting ready for the show or relaxing after the show,” Imbriano said.
Imbriano is looking forward to seeing how the students like Fall Fest this year.
“Since people already know what Fall Fest is we are not just selling them the idea of this outdoor festival for the first time,” she said. “It already does have a build up and we had such a great time last year.”
She says she knows students enjoyed the concert last year, and there is a lot to live up to for this year to keep students coming back.
“The pressure is on but I have a feeling this is going to be a good one,” Imbriano said. “And a lot of work has been put into it and I know that at the end of the day no matter what, students are going to enjoy their time.”
