By Ty Quirk
Every year around the end of the spring semester, the Student Senate holds a committee of passionate students who try to put together a fantastic concert for the Western New England community. In the past, they’ve had multiple, very big artists including Yung Gravy, B.O.B., and 3OH!3. However, “Spring Event this year is taking on a completely different identity from previous years,” said Brett Lussier, the Chair of Spring Event. “In previous years, it was with musicians … that you could technically see anywhere else in the world.” However, Lussier claimed that “this year is different.”
Lussier and all the Spring Event chairs are positive that this is a WNE focused event. “We want to make this event something that reflects our school,” said Lussier. “This is something big for us and big for our campus, and we want to try to make this a big tradition for our community every year … because this is the event and this is what they want.”
This year’s festivities mark a departure from previous events. This year’s Spring Event will consist of three events held over two dates: Bearglow will be held on Friday, April 24, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Commonwealth Lawn. The Bear Fair will be held on Saturday, April 25, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Commonwealth parking lot, while the Kodiak Music Festival (KMF) will be held on Saturday, April 25, from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Commonwealth Lawn.
The Bearglow Event will be having a DJ company, Groove Boston Mission 6 (or GBM6), to DJ for the WNE community. The founder of GBM6, Bobby Dutton, explained what GBM6’s goal is for a company. “We’re about making people happy … and how we achieve happiness is by designing and executing legendary events,” said Dutton. The Bearglow event will also feature food trucks, water, and glow paint. The music starts at 7:30 right as the sun is setting and then the final act is going on at around 8:30. The Bearglow event will continue in darkness, with the glowing paint providing the primary source of illumination.
The next day, April 25th, has two separate events happening in the same general area as each other. The first event, hosted by WNEK, is Kodiak Music Festival (or KMF), happening from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Commonwealth Lawn. This year is the 5th annual KMF, and WNEK still has the same goal as always: Share music from the New England area and beyond. Seven bands from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York will perform as part of the KMF. If you’re curious to learn about which seven bands will play, follow @wnekradio on Instagram – which will provide information about each band as well as what else WNEK does on campus.
The second event, happening right next to KMF on the Commonwealth parking lot, will be the first annual carnival on campus. The Bear Fair will feature a variety of rides, including a carpet slide, the Scrambler, the Roundabout, and the Zipper. In addition, attendees can visit dunk tanks and a pedal jousting station (at which participants joust on platforms on an inflatable base), as well as enjoying the fare from various food trucks. The Bear Fair will be open from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.
For those interested in coming to Spring Event, it will be 2 dates: Bearglow on April 24th from 7:30 to 9:30 pm at Commonwealth Lawn, Bear Fair on April 25th from 1 to 6 pm on the Commonwealth Parking Lot, and Kodiak Music Festival on April 25th from 1 to 8 PM.
