This past weekend, Penn’s Social Planning and Events Committee debuted Fall Festival, creating a new Penn tradition — and one that we hope will continue.
The Fall Festival is a welcome addition to the Penn calendar, which, by and large, is dominated by second-semester events, particularly Spring Fling and Hey Day. Organizing a Penn-wide event in the middle of the fall semester helped (at least temporarily) to alleviate the mid-semester doldrums that go around campus at this time every year. Students flocked to College Green for pumpkin painting, the Battle of the Bands and Super Smash Bros. performances, free food and various recreational activities. It added up to a very enjoyable afternoon for students from all across campus.
We see great potential for Fall Festival in the upcoming years. We hope that SPEC is able to expand the day’s offerings, increase the publicity for the event and attract a greater percentage of the undergraduate population. Because it was a new event this year, buzz needed to be created from the ground up, and SPEC created a solid foundation to capitalize upon for next year. We hope that next year’s event gets even higher visibility and sees an even greater turnout.
