When students visualize Spring Weekend, three images come to mind: booze, crowds of classmates and beautiful weather. Unfortunately for Fairfield, that was not the case this year.
The Saturday event, which was intended to replace Spam Jam, was held in the area next to Lessing Field under cloudy skies. It was well-attended by freshmen and sophomores but not by juniors and seniors – the way Spam Jam once was.
Relatively few students danced in front of the music stage as bands performed, approximately three or four of-age students were in the beer garden at any given time, and most students visited the event simply to eat and run.Fake tattoos and picture keychains had little chance of appealing to upperclassmen. Even more outrageous was the $2 charge students in the beer garden were required to pay per can of beer. Those who actually brought money with them refused to pay for cans of beer they could have gotten from their refrigerator while sitting home on the couch.
The newest addition to Spring Weekend, a Sunday event at the townhouses exclusively for juniors, had an even worse turnout. Even with the mechanical bull and DJ blasting techno music, the townhouse lawns were sparse and students continued to eat and run.
Although Sodexho catered the event and cooked burgers and hot dogs on location, the only food offered were burgers and chips, unlike Saturday where cookies, brownies, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, cotton candy, popcorn and fruit were available throughout the day.
The spirit of Spam Jam was dead this Spring Weekend. Absent was the mob of students drinking, laughing and bonding with their peers before summer vacation. Fairfield’s Spring Weekend was ordinary. It was merely a barbecue, not a celebration of springtime and definitely not an event students would look forward to each year. If anything, the notion of Spring Weekend was a depressing reminder of just how much fun Fairfield used to be.
Though IRHA and FUSA put effort into planning their respective events, student interest just was not there. We challenge them to raise the bar for next year and realize that food and games are not enough for upperclassmen who have been there and done that since freshman year. This past Spring Weekend is just another reminder of the dying traditions and good times at Fairfield.
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