S.L. FULLER
Assistant News Editor
Not even the rain could keep people away from the barbeque. People filled the picnic tables that were set up outside under tents to enjoy the different food vendors. While the weather wasn’t as nice as last year, there was no shortage of people at Spectrum’s Fred Fest this past Saturday.
“There were a lot of people inside,” said junior biology major and president of Spectrum Ali Drake. “And then when [Dinosaur Bar-B-Que] started serving, there were lines wrapped around heading into the [next] parking lot.”
This year, the event was held in Steele Hall due to the weather. Even though there was a change in location, there was still plenty to enjoy. Besides the barbeque, there were long lines for caricatures, the photo
booth and the bounce house/obstacle course called “Chaos.”
Senior early childhood education major Jennifer Santiago was one of many people who waited in the long line for caricatures.
“I was in [the line] since I got here,” she said. “It was worth it.”
Many people could also be seen donning a “Fred Fest ‘14” hat that Spectrum was giving away at the door or carrying around an animal that was made at the Stuff-A-Bear station.
“I think it is going really well actually,” said Drake during the brief interview she gave as she was busy running around at the event. “Maybe [Fred Fest] was hurt a little by the weather, but I know we sold over our ticket amount. We sold around 1,700.”
The other on-campus events that went on Fred Fest weekend were successful, especially the late-night breakfast held at Center Point. Even though the events were not well-attended, the students that participated enjoyed themselves greatly.
“I’ve been very impressed with the on-campus events for Fred Fest the past couple of years,” said Vice President of Student Affairs Dr. David Herman. As for the activity downtown, Herman was less impressed.
Chief of University Police Ann Burns has been through 33 Fred Fests. While acknowledging that the extended on-campus events must have helped decrease the chaos downtown somewhat, Burns says there really was no noticeable decrease.
“I think people who came to [on-campus Fred Fest events] were happy and having fun and there were no issues,” said Burns. “It’s the after-parties that were the problem.”
Burns and Herman both mentioned how the downtown activity actually seemed to be worse than last year. At the end of the weekend, there were 28 arrests and 46 charges on campus which Burns noted was not a significant amount in relation to other Fred Fests. Out of those arrests, only six were SUNY Fredonia students.
“The perception is that we can control all student behavior and that we should keep students on campus and the village would be fine. The problem is that half of our students live in the village,” said Herman. “We get blamed for whatever happens with Fred Fest as an institution. And when students put things out there online,it influences the way people think about us.”
Both the University Police Department and the Village of Fredonia Police Department worked tirelessly throughout the whole weekend. Herman and Burns noted how the activity last Friday night was especially chaotic. But even so, Burns said she was happy with the way the police handled every situation.
“The one thing that I was really so proud of was the way the police conducted themselves. They did an incredible job,” said Burns. “If you let [a situation] get out of control, it could turn it into a riot.”
It’s unclear what the future holds for Fred Fest. Herman said that it will have to keep evolving until a significant change occurs with house parties and the downtown situation. But the use of social media is making it extremely difficult.
“[The administration is] pretty disappointed in what happened downtown,” said Herman. “We’re very happy about what went on on-campus and we wish more students would have stayed to participate.”