What do you get when you give Campus Union and Wofford Live $15,000, two days, permission to let students swim in the fountain and Phase 3 for an afternoon? A new tradition that has the potential to rival other beloved Wofford events – just as soon as students take advantage of it.

Building from the event planned by then-Campus Union President Chris Novak, current President Hank Davis and a CU ad-hoc committee worked to plan a bigger version of last year’s Fountain Fest. This year’s events included a DJ foam pit party, a swim in the fountain, a picnic dinner on the lawn, an afternoon concert in Phase 3 of the Village, featuring three phenomenal bands to satisfy a variety of musical preferences and food trucks for hungry concert-goers. There were also athletic events, such as men’s soccer and football. Campus Union announced the plans for the new tradition on Sept. 22, the Monday before the events were scheduled to take place.

From a technical and logistical standpoint, especially for the first year of any new event of this scale, administration and student leaders were satisfied with how the event unfolded. Davis, who also chaired the ad-hoc committee responsible for the event, considers the weekend an overall success. Despite a little algae in the fountain (and an unfortunate smell reported by some students) and some dreary weather, Friday’s events were successful and the beautiful weather Saturday made a perfect backdrop for the band party. Students who attended the planned events all expressed a similar consensus, saying they enjoyed the foam pit, the swim in the fountain and the band party Saturday. Dean of Students Roberta Bigger also noted that for the first time since the tradition of swimming in the fountain became a regular event, no one was injured while partaking.

Despite no hiccups in execution and a thorough, albeit short, marketing campaign for the event, the turnout for the weekend was somewhat of a disappointment. Friday’s weather, a dislike of foam (and complete lack of visibility while muddling around in 15 foot high walls of foam), and that whole algae thing (by the way – really, Maintenance?) might have kept many from participating on Friday, as well as the desire to celebrate the afternoon as an organization in another location (ex. fraternities at the row). But the low turnout for Saturday was confusing across the board for members of Campus Union, Wofford Live and the administration.

Wofford Live chair Luke Basha speculated as to the reason for a low turnout rate, saying “[that] Saturday may not have been an ideal situation, being Admission’s Hospitality Day, having a night football game, the LSAT and GRE for a few unlucky souls and being the after- noon after the biggest party day at Wofford, but this does not explain why the vast majority of students missed out on this event.”

Davis commented that the lack of turnout could be related to Greek life. He expressed concern over campus events stating, “I don’t know how we can change the culture of the student body, but it seems to me that if the event is not centered around Greek life, the student body will not adequately support it.”

Basha echoed Davis’s thoughts, saying, “I understand that many are still stinging from the loss of the traditional Wofford Boy’s Bid Day, but that bitter taste in your mouth should not prevent you from having a great time at a new and totally unrelated event.”

Bigger, who also expressed dissatisfaction with the overall turnout of the weekend, noted, “There is great room for improvement. As soon as the event finished, I started questioning how to make it better for next year, whether it’s through a better marketing campaign, more organization involvement, or other aspects of the whole weekend.”

Davis, Basha and Bigger encourage students with ideas about improvement to contact Wofford Live or Campus Union with suggestions.

It’s not easy making a new tradition. In Wofford’s case, many are still, as Ba- sha pointed out, in mourning over a previous beloved tradition. But due to circumstances outside of the college’s control, that tradition is no longer an option. Campus Union and Wofford Live’s efforts to make a new tradition are to be commended. Given time and improvement, Fall Weekend has the potential to become the new Wofford fall staple as students experience it in years to come.

Author’s note- both Davis and Basha are active members of the Greek life community as well as active in their respective campus-wide organizations.

— Leah Hunter