Bad day to be a what? Never heard of it. While some people pout over the removal of the traditional Bad Day to be a Pumpkin, many embraced the new event, Fall Fest. Incorporating lots of fall cheer, the new event saw its debut on Saturday, November 18, just in time for Thanksgiving. With many fall-themed activities and plenty of grub to go around, it’s safe to say that this event was quite a hit.
To help out with the fall-themed ambiance of the event, various activities were set up around the parking lot where the fest took place. From cider pong to apple bobbing, different games littered the fest in order to bring an authentic feeling of autumn to attendees.
Senior Ashley Kate Smith was thrilled to be helping out with the first ever Fall Fest. She sees the potential in the idea due to its various entertaining activities and hopes that the event will continue for many years to come.
“I really liked all of the activities available at Fall Fest, it makes this event really fun and unique. If I had to pick a favorite I’d probably go with the potato sack race. I’ve got some nice hops,” Smith said.
Completely changing a longstanding tradition like Bad Day to be a Pumpkin into something new was no easy task. New ideas, a new theme and a new time of year may have overwhelmed the planning crew; it’s no surprise that a few ideas got left on the cutting room floor. A few volunteers even showed up for activities that they had signed up to run, only to find them nowhere in sight.
SGA President senior Amir Kalantary helped organize the event through the school leadership team and attended the festival. He was thrilled to see it receive the high turnout that it did, despite the removal of some previously mentioned activities.
“I was really upset to remove the pumpkin bowling section from the plan. It sounded so cool when we first mentioned it and it was pretty original. It sucks that we couldn’t include everything but we had to prioritize,” Kalantary said.
Fall Fest happened to be scheduled on a very cloudy day. Because of this, leadership chose to prepare for the worst and set up inside as well as outside, which ended up paying off. With around an hour to go in the festival, the sky began to crack and the first few raindrops drizzled down. While attendees did seem slightly concerned, spirits stayed high as the festival went inside.
SGA Treasurer senior Thomas Azari helped organize the event and attended along with Kalantary. While the rain was not ideal, Azari wasn’t concerned and was proud of his team for managing to prepare for the elements.
“You know, it’s this kind of foresight for these kinds of events that can really save the affair. I’m very proud that the leadership team managed to look ahead and prepare for the worst. We’re still having a lot of fun and this wouldn’t be the case without the great people on the team,” Azari said.
Despite the rain, Fall Fest was a fun success that easily achieved the fall vibe that it was going for. Hopefully leadership can manage to keep up the good ideas and help propel Fall Fest fat into future years at WJ.