Quinnipiac’s student planning board and radio station, WQAQ, revamped Fall Fest this year and the new changes were a success.
WQAQ announced on Instagram that the annual concert would be undergoing some major changes. It featured free t-shirts and blankets, a mechanical pumpkin, a donut wall and three food trucks.
A mechanical pumpkin
“WQAQ came into this year looking for new ways to expand our station into the Quinnipiac community and we identified live events and concerts as a great way to do so,” Dan Bahl, general manager. “We were approached by SPB during the spring of 2019 about the possibility of partnering for Fall Fest 2019, and that’s where the ‘new’ plan started.”
The biggest and most notable change, however, was the location. Instead of being held in South Lot like the years prior, it was held on the quad.
Students lounged on the quad as they waited for the performances to start.
“I think it’s actually a really cool set up,” Sean Raggio, senior journalism major, said. “I feel like you used to just show up, see it and go home. Now it’s an event. I think that the planning SPB did was a great job.”
The bigger venue allowed for more room to hold activities and space to lounge around and listen to music. The new location made the concert more about the event with less focus on the music and headliner.
“I like the emphasis on the festival itself and not the music and headliner,” Jamie Jean-Baptiste, a junior behavioral neuroscience major, said. “Because I feel like music is so subjective. People might not like the music act, so it’s more in terms of hanging around and just about being around people in the community.”
Fall Fest had multiple lawn games for students to play while they waited for the music performances.
The Sulls opened the show at 1 p.m., playing classics like “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World and “Hey Ya” by OutKast. The following act was Those Guys another cover band based in New England. The headliner was Cale Dodds. Dodds is most known for his singles “Take You Back” and “What We Gonna Do About It,” which he released in 2018.
“With The Sulls and Those Guys, we picked two cover bands based in Connecticut, both of which covered a number of genres and artists that we believed the Quinnipiac community would enjoy listening to and singing along with,” Bahl said. “With Cale Dodds, we knew that people may not know his songs directly, but his sound equates to a number of high-profile pop-country artists currently performing around the country, and we believed he would bring that same energy and enthusiasm”
The Sulls opened up Fall Fest with hits from OutKast, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Greenday.
The food trucks gave out free tacos and students received a Spuds potato and ice cream for one ticket each. While the food trucks were handing out delicious food, there was also a DIY candied apple station where students were able to customize their caramel apples with sprinkles, chocolate chips and peanuts. And if that wasn’t enough, there was also a donut wall, where Fall Fest workers handed out free donuts.
“I remember mostly my first fall fest, I got a guitar pick from the Plain White T’s,” Raggio said. “I feel like it was out of your way when it was in South Lot. Now, people could just be passing through and see it. You could be going to the library and check it out.”
Students embracing the fall season by making their own caramel apples
WQAQ and SPB worked hard on bringing something fresh to the annual tradition of Fall Fest. Although there were a lot of changes to this years event, don’t expect any more major changes to next year’s concert.
“There are certain tweaks that I believe we’d like to make to the schedule of the day, and the times that artists perform,” Bahl said. “Other than that, though, a lot of the changes will just be building on ideas that worked this year.”