BY CASSIDEY KAVATHAS, MANAGING EDITOR
Spring Weekend is back and in full swing starting Friday. The weekend has been a tradition since before the 1980s according to Rob DeFazio, the associate dean for student life.
“To me Spring Weekend is a chance for students and the campus community to relax and enjoy themselves without having to worry about classes and exams and to make memories,” said DeFazio. “This year is kind of like reintroducing everyone because if you’re not a senior, you’ve never experienced Spring Weekend.”
The annual kickball tournament brings in the weekend with games starting at 4 p.m. Friday and lasting through Saturday. From 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m Friday, musician Ade Adu is performing in the lot between the Reilly Center and the Richter Center. Adu is an acoustic solo musician who performs a broad range of genres from pop to reggae. After Adu, music will be played by WSBU 88.3 The Buzz.
“We have a local musician named Ade Adu. He’s played at a lot of Bonaventure events and student events over the years so he’s pretty popular,” said DeFazio. “I will always want to have music out there just because it sets the tone for the week – the atmosphere of just having these bands playing.”
From 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. multiple activities will take place in the lot between the Reilly Center and the Richter Center. Activities include a mechanical bull, caricature drawings, photo booth, inflatable jousting and an inflatable obstacle course. The festivities on Friday will conclude with Bingo starting at 8 p.m. in the Dresser Auditorium in the John J. Murphy professional building.
“We have our Campus Activities Board and we run things by our students or they bring ideas to us,” said Defazio
The Hickey Dining Hall has moved outside into a tent for the duration of Spring Weekend. The tent will be in the lot between the Reilly Center and the Richter Center. For the tent, a wristband is needed for access to food Friday night through Saturday. Saturday dinner, starting at 5 p.m., will return inside the Hickey.
“Just show your wristband, you go in the tent, get your food, drinks. You’re hungry, you go back in again,” said DeFazio.
The event kicks off again at 11 a.m. Saturday with a performance from Dawson Hallow. Dawson Hallow is an indie-folk-rock band of 5 siblings. The events from Friday will continue with the addition of tie-dye from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Buzz will provide music until Eric Van Houten, a country artist, begins his set at 2 p.m.
“Dawson Hollow, we booked them two years ago for spring weekend then everything shut down. So we had the contract with them that we kind of bumped until last year. Then we couldn’t do it last year,” said DeFazio “So we booked them for this spring weekend.”
Activities in the lot between the Reilly Center and the Richter Center conclude Saturday at 4 p.m. The last event of this year’s Spring Weekend will be at 7 p.m. featuring Michael C. Anthony, a hypnotist and mentalist.
“It’s a great way to send the seniors off with one more big weekend of events that they can participate in,” said Margot Hickey, assistant director for intramural, recreational and club sports. “Like Rob said, just have fun, make memories fully relaxed and hopefully Don’t stress it.”
kavathcj20@bonaventure.edu
