As the weather hopefully begins to get warmer and sunnier, students can look forward to spending the afternoon and evening of Friday, May 9th celebrating the arrival of spring with SGA’s Block Party, held by MEC, ADC and SAC.
The event will feature a variety of events, kicking off with a concert on the Quad. Students can get a Caf packout meal and listen to campus bands play on the steps of Boe Chapel from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The featured campus musicians include Ashley, The Jericho Vibe, Air Is Air and Maria and the Coynes.
At 7 p.m., The Counterfactuals, a band made up of Assistant Professor of Philosophy Michael Fuerstein and three professors from Carleton, will take the stage until 8 p.m. In case of rain, the event will be moved into the Pause with the same set times.
“The Spring Block Party will be growing off of the success of the Fall Block Party that we held in September,” MEC Coordinator Connor Peterson ’14 said. “It was an extremely fun event and we received great positive feedback. We wanted to recapture this event and give the student body an end of the year event to look forward to.”
Following the bands, ADC will launch its first-ever Electric Run, a 3-kilometer race complete with dance music and neon lights. Though the event is labeled a run, according to ADC Coordinator Erin Hynes ’15 it’s more of a “giant walk/run, music and lights extravaganza.” The run will come to a halt between Boe Chapel and Buntrock Commons for a dance party.
“It’ll be a super high energy event where participants will follow the loop around campus. Throughout the course they’ll hear high energy tunes blasted from speakers and played by the wonderful DJs at KSTO,” Hynes said. “In addition, the Pause techs have broken up the course into sections and are playing with different lights, fog machines, and blacklights. All in all, I think it’ll look absolutely amazing!”
ADC will provide free swag for participants before they reach the dance party. The event has garnered a lot of attention on campus; four days after the online link to the race was released, 279 people had already signed up.
The evening will conclude with the SAC Highlighter Pause Dance at 10 p.m.
“The Highlighter Dance serves as a celebration of sorts,” said Brandon Cash ’16, the SAC Co-Coordinator for 2014-2015. “It is the last Pause dance of the year and SAC always tries to round off the year with a bang!”
According to Cash, the idea of the Highlighter Dance is simple: if you have something that glows, be sure to bring it to the dance.
“With finals fast approaching, it’s really the last ‘normal’ weekend of the school year and I’m thrilled that SAC gets to plan this event for the St. Olaf student body. I am most excited for the SGA Spring Block Party to get students outside to enjoy fingers crossed spring weather. Olaf comes alive again in the spring and I’m really looking forward to seeing Oles enjoying our beautiful campus!”
Graphic Credit: ALLI LIVINGSTON/MANITOU MESSENGER
