For many students, the walk to class on Greene Street looked a lot different than usual on Wednesday. Carolina Productions hosted SpringFest 2016, a festival event on Greene Street, complete with inflatables, food trucks, caricature artists, corn hole, a performance by Secret Cirkus and musical sets from student musicians and R. City.
After an idea from last year’s board, Carolina Productions decided to host the first SpringFest in the hopes of it becoming an annual event. Keifer Negri, Carolina Productions' member and second-year hospitality management student, and the rest of the board have been working for several months to put the event together.
“It was very successful. It was a lot more successful than some of us anticipated," Negri said. "We just wanted a whole day of just free events that everyone on campus could enjoy."
With the event running from noon to 8 p.m., Carolina Productions made sure to keep things entertaining. Between classes, students suited up and jumped onto the Velcro wall, jousted in an inflatable ring and made free throws at the basketball nets on Davis Field.
“It was a really great break from classes to come out and do all the bouncy houses with my friends,” first-year undeclared student Lauren Seaver said.
Greene Street’s most popular activity was the inflatable where students ran against each other and were then yanked back by a bungee cord. SpringFest attracted not only students, but also faculty, staff and families from around the area.
Circus troupe Secret Cirkus also performed at the event. The performers dressed in eccentric costumes, walked around on stilts and did routines with batons, hula hoops and contortion. First-year undeclared student Alyx Copley was especially impressed by the troupe.
“The street performers were really cool because I have actually never seen a guy on stilts so close before," Copley said.
SpringFest not only provided students the opportunity to enjoy a day full of fun and games at no cost, but it also gave several students the opportunity to perform at SpringFest. The largest musical performer was the band R. City, who performed at the close of the event.
After months of preparation, Carolina Productions finally saw their event come together. With this being the first SpringFest campus has seen, students hope it won’t be the last.
“I do hope SpringFest will be an annual thing. I would love it," Copley said. "It would brighten my day and my spring.”