This year’s SpringFest kick-off Carnival was held on May 18 from 1-5PM on the sports field and in the ARC on a beautiful sunny day. Students lined up for DIY flower bouquets, food trucks, and games all afternoon until the music began to lower. The taste of the start of summer was felt in the atmosphere and the energy was unmatched.
Each year, Campus Events Board (CEB) hosts a SpringFest kick-off, an event with arts and crafts, carnival games, among other activities. As CEB describes, it is the perfect way for students to relieve stress before the pressure of finals begins to arise. While the events of the week vary from year to year, the SpringFest Kickoff Carnival is always one of the highly anticipated events by students. This year alone more than 1,200 students attended and got to enjoy a wide variety of activities.
Some of the highlights included a rock-climbing wall, a petting zoo (which had the cutest bunnies), and an inflatable obstacle course. Students also raced against each other to see who could complete the course in the least amount of time, laughing and tripping over to make it to the end. Along with that, there were also some carnival games such as Spray N’ Race, Ring Toss and Fishbowl Frenzy. The summery upbeat pop music played by UWave radio added to the college life atmosphere.
There were also outdoor sports available on the field. This included badminton, with Bellevue Badminton club sponsoring their booth and even archery which is honestly harder than it looks. If you were brave enough to climb to the top of the rock-climbing wall, the view resembled that of a state fair on a hot midsummer afternoon.
A slight drawback to any carnival or fair is the long lines for the most popular activities. While it isn’t fun to stand around and wait for your turn at an activity or food, waiting with friends made the experience more fun. Some of the new stations this year got a lot of attention, such as the bouquet making station. Walking around the sports field, everyone had a bouquet in hand, some for their significant other, others for a close friend.
This year, students could choose food options which included Off the Rez, Monster Dogs, Mochi Donuts, Mike’s Shaved Ice and Cobbs Popcorn. With two food passes to use, the decision was quite difficult for some. The aromatic flame from the Monster Dogs drew most of us in for a quick lunch, and the Mochi Donuts made for an excellent sweet treat after. There were also free drinks available at any point, which made the afternoon quite refreshing.
However, the return of Mike’s Shaved Ice had students lined up for up to an hour to enjoy the local delicacy. With special combo flavors, Lilikoi passion orange guava and the strawberry mango, they were almost sold out before 3PM. Like many students, I hope that they come back for future SpringFest events to come, as it was the perfect snack to end the day.
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