Get pumped Ferris students, because the biggest concert on campus is right around the corner.
Performances for this year include main stage headliners Mayer Hawthorne, Big K.R.I.T., Flint Eastwood and Through the Crowd. On second stage are headliners the Balsam Brothers, D’arin, DJ Choff, Heavy T & the Woodiez and Oshea
The second stage acts all feature at least one current Ferris student and were voted on by a committee of students, faculty and Entertainment Unlimited members.
“Mayer Hawthorne is a mix of genres, like soul, a bit of funk and a hint of hip hop. K.R.I.T is a rapper and hip hop artist,” said Lola Schultz, a junior in music industry management and Ferris Fest coordinator.
Along with Schultz, music industry management junior Bryan Hinrichs serves as coordinator for Ferris Fest. With the help of Entertainment Unlimited, Schultz and Hinrichs planned the entire event, from booking the artists to coordinating food and activities. Schultz explained the musical style of the other Ferris Fest acts.
“Through the Crowd is an alternative band, The Balsam Brothers are country, D’arin is a rapper, and DJ Choff is electronic music. Heavy T & the Woodiez are an alternative band as well, and Oshea is a rapper. Flint Eastwood is a hard one to describe, but they call themselves a spaghetti western band,” said Schultz.
Aside from live music, there will be numerous booths set up by RSOs and local businesses with activities and giveaways. For activities, there will be an inflatable obstacle course, a henna artist, a balloon artist, a photo booth and an ice cream bar. Ferris Fest will also feature something brand new called The High Five program.
In collaboration with the Bulldog Sustainability Alliance, the High Five program is promoting positity and being environmentally friendly at Ferris Fest.
“They basically just encourage people to be good festival goers,” said Schultz. “To recycle and pick up their trash. We’ll have people staffed at trash areas. Every time someone picks up a piece of trash to put in the bins, they’ll get a high-five sticker.”
Students can write their name and number on the stickers and take them to the Bulldog Sustainability Alliance and High Five program’s booth tenter it into drawings. Throughout the day, they’ll be drawing names for all of these prizes, including gift cards and we’re working on getting artist signatures and t-shirts,” said Schultz.
“That’s one thing I’m really excited about, because Ferris Fest actually used to be a celebration of Earth day, and it’s kind of cool to bring it back to its roots.”
It all goes down this Saturday, April 25, starting at noon and ending at 6 p.m. in the Quad area, with rain location in Wink Arena.