Fest Season is long anticipated for party-goers, but a recent announcement indicated that the dates have changed for some of these big weekends.
The Congo Fest, High Fest, Palmer Place Fest and Palmer Fest dates have been moved up a week, according to a post shared on Instagram by BrickLife Entertainment. The fests will take place April 12, April 13, April 19 and April 20, respectively.
The post, which received 1,532 likes, stated the shift in date was because of a scheduling conflict with the City of Athens. However, the Athens Police Department’s Instagram account commented on the post, explaining that the city nor the police department had any involvement in setting fest dates.
“We don't have any say, we don't want any say in it, and we're not going to either,” Athens Police Chief Nick Magruder said.
Magruder said the post alluded to the opposite of what he said happened, which is that allegedly BrickLife Entertainment approached the city of Athens about changing dates.
“We want to make sure that we at least said something like, ‘Hey, don't get mad at us,’” Magruder said. “We don't have (any ability) to say ‘No’ because we don't sanction them at all.”
Magruder said BrickLife has not been in touch with APD since the Instagram post was shared.
The contradicting information about who or what changed the dates left some students confused.
Kaelyn Walther, a senior studying journalism, said when she discovered the fests’ date changes, she was disappointed because it meant she could not go to all of them.
“As a senior who has looked forward to being able to make it to all fests, to not be, one not able to make it to everything but also, two not able to make it to my own fest (Congo Fest) was frustrating,” Walther said.
Walther said she viewed BrickLife as a “for the people” company, and although they do plan good shows and events, they seem to be ignoring students’ comments.
She, along with others who commented on the post, expressed their annoyance with changing High Fest’s date from April 20 to April 13. For many seniors, who missed out on the first two years of a traditional college experience because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important to have a good fest season, Walther said.
“To have that kind of ironic date on an ironic fest would have been the cap to a great senior year (and) kind of to make up for (the pandemic),” Walther said.
BrickLife responded to one user’s comment about wanting High Fest on April 20 and said they would be willing to protest in front of city hall.
Anne Mathew, a junior studying neuroscience and a senior resident assistant in Sargent Hall, shared there is an increased responsibility for RAs during fest season.
Mathew shared that students often act out in ways that usually require some sort of RA action.
“We have a lot of students walking back really drunk to the point where they can't really get back to their room, or they get back drunk to the room but they can't get their key or they lost their key,“ Mathew said. "Sometimes they'll just pass out in the hallway, outside their door."
However, RAs do not know what happens to students who receive disciplinary action, Mathew said.
“(We) actually don't get much information on our side,” Mathew said. “What we can tell the students is that we'll write it up and we'll send it to the conduct process, and then they'll review it.”
As the fest season nears sooner than expected, participants prepare for the hectic week of parties. However, Walther reminds fest-goers that students are ultimately the people behind what makes the fest season fun.
“I do think that there should be some kind of reasoning (why the dates were changed) distributed to the people, especially the students that are taking part in it,” Walther said. “Quite honestly, if the people want High Fest to be on 4/20, we can make High Fest on 4/20. We can do that ourselves. (BrickLife) is just kind of putting this on and it's really up to us to do, and if we really want to do it.”
