JORDAN PATTERSON
News Editor
The annual Fredonia party to end all parties is upon the small community yet again: Fred Fest.
Depending on who you ask, the response to those two words will either be negative or positive and sometimes in the small grey area in between.
This year on the weekend of the unofficial Fred Fest, the Village of Fredonia has taken precautions to prepare for the chaos.
Last year, Mayor Athanasia Landis said that there were around 70 arrests and that the majority of those arrests were from outsiders. This year, those who are arrested on this specific weekend will get their names and pictures posted on the Fredonia Police Department’s Facebook page as a deterrence for getting out of hand. Also this year, there will be a judge “on call” to arraign those arrested to get them on their way that night.
Landis wants to avoid the Sunday after all of the parties leaving Fredonia looking like a “war zone.”
Last year, there was a concern about party goers violating the sewer ordinance far too often. Most businesses won’t let non-customers use their facilities, so the Mayor will be installing port-a-potties throughout town to accommodate this concern. Another issue the community has to deal with is littering, so there also be an increase in garbage cans available around town.
“There’s no excuse now,” Landis said.
Landis wants to pass a resolution to bring food trucks to be parked on Church St. to give people quick access to food.
The biggest concern from the Mayor’s office is safety.
President Virginia Horvath, Vice President for Student Affairs Cedric Howard and Chief of University Police Ann Burns reiterated this sentiment.
Howard will be experiencing Fred Fest for the first time and has heard stories about how crazy it gets.
A general consensus about the disruptive behavior that accompanies Fred Fest is that it attracts outsiders.
After a glass window was shattered by an out-of-town student who was checked into Fredonia, administration banned visitors in the residence halls overnight.
The overall opinion of Fred Fest was that it’s something that happens that the campus administration and the village has to deal with. The Mayor wanted to emphasize that she didn’t want people to think that she doesn’t want them to have a good time. She just wants everyone to be safe and not at the expense of the community.
Horvath, on the other hand, worries about the students the entire weekend.
“I sit with my phone in my hand and my heart in my throat,” Horvath said of Fred Fest weekend.
She expressed her admiration for Fredonia students and how proud of them she is, but she cannot be proud of this weekend. The main reason Fred Fest isn’t officially sponsored by the campus anymore is because of what takes place in the village.
The massive parties, the blackouts, the arrests and the disrespect for the village all fall back onto the University when they put their name on such an event.
Burns admitted that this isn’t a Fredonia specific problem but it’s directly related to the alcohol and the party scene across all campuses.
Though the administration acknowledges that students want to unwind at the end of the semester, the concern for students safety never leaves their minds.