 "Photo: Allie Williams")
Last Friday from noon to 5 p.m., hundreds of students gathered on the North Green. They sat in rows of chairs cheering on performers, lounged on blankets in clusters on the lawn, danced at the edge of the main stage and stood in lines waiting for a meal. Colorful balloons decorated the perimeter fences, music echoed throughout the campus and the smell of hamburgers filled the air.
FestivALL was in full swing.
It was the first year for FestivALL - an event sponsored by the university's Student Government Association that offered both food and entertainment to students, free of charge.
The idea for FestivALL was conceived by SGA president, junior Casey Patriarco.
"The vision for this event came to me one day in the dining hall with my friends," Patriarco said. "We were trying to think of a cool thing for SGA to do to bring together students and to start a new tradition."
She said FestivALL is a fun-filled event with the aim of bringing together students and student groups to show off talent at the university.
The event involved approximately 40 different student organizations including 24 student group performances. The talents displayed ranged from the music of the Fife & Drum Corp to dances by UD Swing to jokes by the Rubber Chickens.
Sophomore Nicole Pegno said she was impressed by the vast diversity that existed from performance to performance.
"I thought the best thing about FestivALL was that SGA was able to get so many groups from the school to perform," Pegno said. "It had a great variety of acts and was very enjoyable."
Sophomore Tom Ford, a performer with the university's South Asian dance troop DE Kamaal, said he appreciated the opportunity to showcase his group's talent to the enthusiastic crowd.
"FestivALL is an awesome chance for groups to be able to show what they've got," Ford said. "It provides groups with the chance to get noticed. The crowd is awesome. Everyone's really into it."
Freshman Dan Cole, a member of SGA and organizer of FestivALL, said his favorite part of the event was how it exposed students to groups on campus they were not previously familiar with and brought such a diverse group of students together.
"People got the chance to hear and see groups they never knew about before and get excited about them and that's great," Cole said.
He said another special aspect of FestivALL was that WVUD, the university's radio station, broadcasted the entire event live.
"It's cool that you didn't even need to be here at FestivALL to enjoy it," he said. "It's being broadcast on campus and in the dining halls so people are enjoying it all over."
Cole said FestivALL was a great success.
"I'm elated with how the event has turned out," he said. "The weather has been gorgeous. The students are enthusiastic and the groups are eager to perform for the student body. It turned out just how we wanted it to."
Members of SGA, including senior Mike DeRienzo, president of the Student Centers Programming Advisory Board who emceed the event, were extremely impressed with the amount of people that attended FestivALL in its first year.
"I think it had a really great turn out," DeRienzo said. "At first we thought the draw was the free food, but we're all out of food and there are still hundreds of people here."
Though the food may not have been what kept people at FestivALL, it still was a major aspect of the event.
Cole said students could sample anything from pizza to baklava for a main course, and crepes to cupcakes for dessert provided by Dining Services.
The menu for FestivALL was carefully considered and determined earlier in the semester through a competition hosted by SGA, called Iron Chef RSO Edition: SGA's Quest for FestivALL Cuisine, he said.
Junior Bob D'Agostino said not only did he enjoy the food but also FestivALL's performances, energetic atmosphere and the philanthropic side of the event.
"It's a good event because it's students giving back to other students," D'Agostino said. "It's a fun thing to bring students together on a nice sunny day and also it raised money for charity."
SGA donated proceeds from the event to Alex's Lemonade Stand and Relay for Life, two organizations that raise money to fight cancer.
D'Agostino said he would support the cause for FestivALL next year as well.
"I would definitely come back next year for the donations, the dancing, the music and of course, for the free food," he said.
Patriarco said based on this year's outcome, the SGA has already begun to look forward to the next FestivALL.
"Overall it's been a great success, and we'll have a lot to live up to next year," she said.
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