Earth Fest Provides Varied Entertainment
By Maggie Kane, Staff Writer
Students prepare boxes for building
EnvOrg’s annual Earth Fest event drew a small crowd of students on Friday to the lower quad in celebration of the Earth. A local band provided a live soundtrack for the event, which prepared a staging ground for a record-setting cardboard construction project.
EnvOrg held the event after Earth Day this year. First year Hayley Smith said they made the decision to avoid hosting an event the same weekend as Frelon. She also said Earth Fest typically gets rained out, so the organization hoped postponing it would allow them to avoid weather problems.
Recycling Coordinator Robert Townsend facilitated the cardboard building project, which drew attention to the amount of boxes recycled at K. Townsend said he gathered the materials in the weeks after Recycle Mania.
Using 760 boxes to build a replica of Stetson Chapel, Townsend and K students set the record for largest cardboard box structure. Brigham Young University in Utah set the previous record earlier this year with 732 boxes.
Townsend started assembling the boxes with senior Scott Beal two hours prior to Earth Fest. Students then built the structure without a blueprint using only cardboard and tape, said Townsend.
Townsend had hoped for a large turnout. “It’s like that movie Field of Dreams: If you build, people will come,” Townsend said.
More people showed up to help out than originally expected, said Beal.
Across the quad, local band The Dynamics played jazz music. Smith said it took EnvOrg a while to nail down a band, delaying the event planning process.
The band has been around since 2008, said saxophonist Jarad Selner. They used to play a weekly gig at the Strutt, but since its closing have been low on music work. They pulled their instruments out when asked to play at the event. “Dust off the old war chest here,” said Selner.
A variety of K organizations tabled at the event: The Resource Exchange Program, Amnesty International, Farms to K and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy. EnvOrg hosted a tie-dye table.
The event’s main goal, Smith said, was to “get people excited about the Earth.” “The Earth is worth celebrating,” she said.
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