Students enjoyed a break from classes with free fair festivities and DIY fun at Fall Fest.
The festival was hosted by the Student Activity Board in the HPER parking lot from 12-6 p.m. Oct 23.
For the thrill-seekers at Fall Fest, there were a few spinning carnival rides students could ride with friends. For those more daring, there was a zip line spanning the back of the lot.
Fall Fest also had several free food vendors including carnival classics, waffle sticks and the local establishment, Las Delicias, which served street corn, ice pops, and strawberries and cream.
Several artists also spanned the lot, providing students with personalized art they could take home or wear throughout the festival. Some of these booths included street sign art, butt sketches, wearable balloon art, face-painting, digital caricatures, guitar pick jewelry, henna art, letter brush art and spray can art.
Students hold up bear claws as they spin around in a carnival ride. Fall Fest was a free event to celebrate homecoming week. The fair featured rides and vendors.
Students were also invited to participate in several DIY crafts including making beaded pens and keychains, making mystery pearl jewelry, pressing flowers, making a journal or potting a “Hug a Cactus.”
Junior communication sciences and disorders major Rodney Smith said, “I think that this is a really cool activity that the school does. I talked to a lot of different people and I feel like I hear just across the board [that] everyone really likes this fair.”
Smith added that they appreciated the scale of Fall Fest and the fact that everything was free.
“It’s nice to … in the middle of my day, just be like ‘Oh my gosh I just wanna go to the fair,’” Smith said.
“I can see my friends and people I know because everybody is kind of off around this time, and it’s in a really good location because it’s right by the [cafeteria],’” Smith said.
Smith said that they had gotten an ice pop from Las Delicias, gotten a waffle on a stick, gotten a SAB tote bag with a purple bear on it and that they were planning to go to the pressed flowers booth.
“I’m definitely going to do pressed flowers because I really like collecting stuff I do at events,” Smith said.
Senior health science major Anna Weisenbach said, “[Fall Fest]’s been fun. I haven’t had to wait too long for many things.”
Weisenbach said that she had gotten a digital caricature, a glitter henna tattoo on the back of her hand, an ice pop from Las Delicias and a DIY beaded keychain.
“The caricatures were fun because I hadn’t gotten one before,” Weisenbach said. “The waffle on a stick was also very good.”
Weisenbach added, “It’s definitely my favorite homecoming event. I haven’t really gone to many other ones.”
Weisenbach added that she liked Fall Fest especially because it made her feel she was getting some of her tuition reimbursed with all the free stuff.
Students smile as they prepare to take a trip on a carnival ride.
Freshman nursing major Stoney Rouse said, “It was really fun and refreshing to know that it was free, and seeing that all the different people came out here, and it actually makes me want to go visit some of these places.” Rouse emphasized that Las Delicias was one of these places she would visit in the future.
“I got a watermelon fruit freezie. They use real fruit to put in it. You get a coconut milk popsicle and it has coconut shavings in the popsicle…delicious,” Rouse said.
Rouse added that she was impressed by the pearl jewelry station, which she said was using real pearls.
While it was Rouse’s first time attending Fall Fest, she said she would return again next year “especially since it’s like they took the time to really invest in the vendors and put them out here. I’m coming back, I’m impressed actually,” Rouse said.
Rouse said she also plans to attend Bears Bingo cosponsored by Housing and Residence Life and the Interfraternity Council.
Ashton Hennessey, who helped run the beaded pen and keychain stand, said that the keychains had sold out almost immediately. By 2 p.m., she was almost out of pens to bead.
Hennessey said that at her booth students will first picked the color of pen or key chain that they wanted. Then they choose a large bead that they want to be the center focal point and add other, smaller beads.
“This is my second time, I actually came last year. I’ll say this is one of the better schools… Everybody has really good manners,” Hennessey said.
SAB’s next event will be making cookie kits on the Ronnie Williams Student Center’s first floor Nov. 7 from 12-3 p.m.
