CHARLES PRITCHARD
Staff Writer
“I drank a beer while jumping on a pogo-stick one-handed,” Brian Johnson, junior economics major, said when asked about his first-ever FREDFest weekend.
Walking through the quiet campus last weekend may indicated to some that FREDFest no longer existed. A trip into the downtown area quickly showed that wasn’t the case. FREDFest was very much alive, just taking place everywhere else.
“Nothing really happened on campus, as much as I saw,” Johnson continued, as he recalled his weekend. “As I got further and further down Temple Street, it was obvious that things were starting to pick up. The streets started to get crowded. There were a lot of people gathered, and it seemed like pandemonium, but I think it was somewhat controlled pandemonium, as there was a large police presence there for obvious reasons.”
Because of the decision by the University to cancel and cut off any ties Fredonia has to FREDFest weekend, many students now keep their eyes pointed downtown when the time rolls around to party and enjoy themselves before finals and stress kicks up as the semester ends.
“I’ve been working for the past hour. I’ve signed one person in, and I’ve seen absolutely no one,” Nicholas Arcoraci, a sophomore resident assistant (RA) and dual finance and history major, said. “I would say it’s about the slowest weekend I’ve seen thus far as an RA.”
On Central Avenue and Temple Street, it couldn’t be further from the truth. People lined and filled the streets. It wasn’t uncommon to pass a group of 10 to 15 people, laughing and smiling throughout the day and into the night. Even further in and towards Canadaway Street, the true party could be found with spectacles you would only find at a circus.
“The guy had a stick or something in his hand wrapped with cloth and lit that on fire before putting something close to gasoline in his mouth,” Ryan Richter, junior psychology major, said. “He sprayed it out like a flamethrower.”
Multiple people were also seen climbing a tree to retrieve a ball that had gotten stuck on its branches on the same street. The rowdy witnesses alternated between cheering them on and pelting them with cans and glass bottles.
This was Richter’s second FREDFest weekend.
“Last year was pretty crazy,” Richter said. “I don’t know if I had more fun this year or last year, but I definitely saw more crazy things.”
The craziness continued in all corners of downtown Fredonia — crowds queuing for Calio’s and Maria’s. On Saturday night, Calio’s had a line formed out into the sidewalk and the tables were packed. With trashcans full of discarded takeout containers, it was clear that businesses were booming.
The constant of the night was the sound of police sirens, occasionally broken up by the wail of an ambulance.
While there were less arrests in Fredonia when compared to last year’s FREDFest weekend, dozens still occurred as a direct result of festive indulgence.
Despite FREDFest’s apparent cancellation, it appears that the longstanding tradition has more life left in it.