BETHANY CLANCY
Staff Writer
Last Tuesday, the 13th, HAIL! Fredonia Records put their own spin on the New Orleans orientated celebration, Mardi Gras: Parti Gras. Since the event’s origin in 2016, it has consistently been held at EBC West and has drawn a crowd each year.
This year’s event had music provided by The Merlin Trio, Fredonia Jazz Ensemble and Fredonia Big Band, along with a free nacho bar and drink specials.
Mike Tomasulo, a senior music industry major with a minor in communications, explained a little bit about HAIL! Fredonia and the events they put on.
“Our record label is divided into five groups that run the class — events, promotion, social media, writing and marketing. Every semester we have new students enroll in the class, so we first have to get everyone placed in one of those groups that best fit their skill set,” said Tomasulo. “We then typically go over how our previous year’s event went, creating a discussion on what to do better this time around.”
Tomasulo went on to explain what makes Parti Gras different from most events in Fredonia.
“For this event, we try to connect with both the campus community and the local Fredonia/Dunkirk community to come out and see a jazz performance, [and] you typically don’t [see] that type of thing,” said Tomasulo. “After the date is solidified, we form our budget, book artists, develop pricing for tickets/coupons, invest in decorations and plan out our social media content up until the event, as well as a million other minuscule details that go into making our events successful.”
For the Parti Gras event, they start planning on the first day of class in the spring semester. This year, they confirmed the date at the end of last semester, just to give them a little extra time for preparation.
The budget for this year’s party was a little bit higher than normal, so they had extra money to book three bands and more time to put into the decorations.
Some of the masquerade masks that were hung up around EBC were donated by another member of HAIL! Fredonia: Julia Mason, a senior music industry major. Mason mentioned that these decorations were made by her mom for a Mardi Gras themed dance she had in the seventh grade.
Tickets were $4, but for this event, they decided to “go green.” Students were able to scan a QR code, fill out the information and then they would only have to pay $2 at the door instead of the full price.
Maria Johnson, a senior BFA with a double major in drawing and painting and art history, has never been to one of these EBC events, but she commented that it was a lot classier than she expected.
“It wasn’t full of drunk, unmanageable students,” she said.
Michaela Pierce, a senior communication studies major who works at EBC, also noticed the respectable patrons.
“Our normal Tuesday nights aren’t as busy as Wednesday through Saturday, so it was nice to have a crowd starting at 8 p.m. The people that came in were awesome. Our bouncers and bartenders had no problems with any patrons acting disorderly or disrespectful; we appreciated their business,” she said. “We all thought the event went well and would love to have more like this. They’re always a blast for the employees whether we’re working or not.”
A lot of attendees like Erin Hannon, a senior music performance major, and Anna Rumfola, a junior music therapy major, came out to support their friends along with local Fredonia music.
“I came to support my colleagues in Fredonia Jazz Ensemble and Fredonia Big Band. I had so much fun; my favorite part of the night was listening to the jazz bands, and seeing them get so involved with the crowd. I’m excited to go see their next show,” said Hannon.
Rumfola added that her favorite part of the night was listening to the Fredonia Big Band.
Tomasulo believes that this year’s event was one of the best.
“I’ve been to all of the Parti Gras events that have ever been done, and I believe it’s fair to say that this year’s was by far the best looking,” he said.
Although it may not have been New Orleans, this year’s Parti Gras was quite the success.