Snapping to the beat outside Houston Hall

Guzzling multiple bottles of Snapple at Wawa, especially during all-nighters and midterms, is a venerable campus tradition. But during lunchtime yesterday, Penn students only had to follow the loud music to the new Houston Hall to try new flavors of the popular beverage and grab freebies. Penn was the 22nd of 30 campuses to host the "Refresh Your Natural Resources" fall tour, which aims to introduce Snapple's new "Elements" line of drinks to college students around the nation. Six of the 10 creatively named drinks -- such as Sky, Moon and Gravity -- were available at the gathering. The beverages contain no preservatives and are made with herbs like ginseng, kava kava and gingko biloba for health purposes. The Gainesville, Fla.-based band Big Sky, on tour for the third consecutive year, headlined the gathering. Most of the 40 students and hospital staff members who attended the hour-long event were drawn by the music, though most wound up staying for the free drinks as well. "I was working in Irvine when I heard them play," said Melanie Donnly, an employee of Facilities Services. "I like their music, and even though I haven't heard it before, I would buy it." College freshman Ethan Fixell offered a different take, however. "They sound too much like Dave Matthews on a bad acid trip," he said. The band's merchandise was on sale and some individuals got free, autographed shirts from the lead singer, who threw them down to the bystanders. "The students were very nice to us," said Allen Ashton, bassist for Big Sky. "The University has an exceptional campus, and we look forward to exploring it tomorrow." The concert was timed to coincide with the grand opening of Houston Market. According to Art Gough of the Canada Dry Delaware Valley franchise, which distributes Snapple in the Philadelphia area, "Penn happens to be one of our largest accounts. We're looking to target the 18-to-25-year-old market." However, although organizers were satisfied with the turnout, the event attracted only a modest crowd because of the noon-1 p.m. lunch hour and classes. Still, those who did come seemed to enjoy themselves. "People love the music, they love the event. They especially like the fact that they don't have to sign up for anything," according to Natalie Cohen, an organizer of the tour who works for Snapple. In addition to the drinks, the Snapple team handed out free CDs containing a mix of tracks, as well as branded shirts and stickers.