Area students enjoy Phila.'s first-ever CollegeFest event

Philadelphia's first annual CollegeFest, held October 9 at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, was a lot like college life itself. Representatives from local organizations, colleges and universities -- including Penn -- gave away free trinkets at booths, while the smell of mediocre food filled the air of an event flooded with thousands of students, loud music from popular bands and the exchange of ideas. The festival -- organized as part of the city's College Student Retention Program to create a more dynamic relationship between the college students in the area and the City of Philadelphia -- was designed to educate and entertain students, allowing them to enjoy themselves while also giving them information about the resources and opportunities offered in the city. "From a Penn perspective, the goal was for more students to experience an event in a part of the city they've never been to," said Jonathan Herrmann, a Wharton senior and chairperson of the Social Planning and Events Committee, which helped organize the event. And judging from his estimate that 750 to 1,000 Penn students turned out, Herrmann said that goal was fulfilled. The alcohol-free affair, which took place from noon until 10:30 p.m., featured pop-rock band Sugar Ray, rap group Public Enemy and Luscious Jackson. The first part of the day was mellow as a fair number of students wandered through the village of booths stopping in to talk, even if only to pick up free stuff. "Yeah, we walked through [the village], mainly in the afternoon, before the good bands got here," explained Amy Levan, a sophomore from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. Those willing to take a chance on local bands wandered over to either the Main Stage or Stage 2. The former is a true concert venue, suitable for the more popular bands, and over-sized for the local bands. At Stage 2, which had no seats, students sat on the grass or on blankets while local bands played. There was a certain nonchalance to the afternoon, as most of the time the music seemed to be just a background to conversations, hackey-sack games or sleep. But that started to change when the Pat McGee Band picked up their instruments on Stage 2. "They were really good, better than I thought they were going to be," College freshman Max Cantor said. The Virginia-based band warmed up the stage for Public Enemy, who came on a little after 4:30 p.m. Public Enemy played for 90 minutes, bringing their traditionally political hip-hop to an appreciative crowd. Their performance remained playful, though, as they threw sponge footballs back and forth with the crowd at Stage 2, encouraged a mosh pit and yelled mock threats at annoying fans. "Public Enemy was the main reason I came, and they didn't disappoint," said Jayson Massey, a senior at Temple University. But the biggest draw of the night was Sugar Ray, who came on shortly after 7:30 p.m. on the main stage. There were few, if any, unfilled seats when the band came on stage. "We sat here for two hours, through all the local bands, to have good seats for Sugar Ray," explained Terra Vicario, a sophomore at Ursinus. Like Public Enemy, Sugar Ray's performance was light-hearted. The spontaneous tone was typified by lead singer Mark McGrath who said, "This show is shot to shit anyway, we might as well have some fun." McGrath then pulled two students onstage, leaving them to their own free-styling devices in front of thousands of their peers. While there was a significant exodus after Sugar Ray's set ended, 2 Skinny J's -- endorsed by Sugar Ray as "the best band you've never seen" -- and Luscious Jackson seemed the draw for those not around to see Sugar Ray. Luscious Jackson had a small but devoted crowd to play for, and the band played until 10:15 p.m. For their final song, "City Song," the band brought a dozen or so audience members onstage to dance and all enjoyed the set despite having put in a long day. By nearly all accounts, the first CollegeFest was a success. Whether or not this will keep students in Philadelphia after graduation is unclear, but most students didn't seem worry about such matters quite yet. "It's nice, because we didn't have to pay, and we can't usually afford to go see good concerts," said a tired Jennifer Barnes, an Ursinus freshman.