Brock-toberfest promises rockin’ good time

But still lacks advertising

Fall is a time to go apple picking, carve pumpkins, Halloween, the all time favorite pastime of jumping in gigantic, towering piles of leaves and if you are in Brockport, snow is to be expected. These activities you can count on because we know they happen every year.

However, one new event is taking place this semester that students do not know much about: Brock-tober Fest. It is a mimic of Oktoberfest without the drinking, though some students will definitely find a way to incorporate that part.

 Oktoberfest is a two-week-long festival held in Germany from the end of September to early October to celebrate and to drink beer. If you are a student studying abroad in Germany right now, you can bet there are dozens of Brockport students who envy you because you are drinking like a fish during Oktoberfest.

But in Brockport, we’re left with a different version, called Brock-tober Fest.  Instead of a celebration of drinking, Brockport students are listening to a celebration of music, which includes popular bands such as Augustana, Mat Kearney, The Hoodies and Black Violin. At Brock the Port last May, BSG let students vote on what bands they would like to see for a fall concert and Augustana was one of the choices. Now, Augustana will be here to entertain us. Kudos to BSG for that.

Yet, many people do not know what Brock-tober Fest consists of besides the bands. BSG really is not living up to its motto of telling us “What’s going on!” Due to poor advertising, Brockport students are once again held clueless like they were at Homecoming, although the idea of Brock-tober Fest is new and interesting. 

Walking into the Union, all we can see are signs with the bands on them. This makes us wonder if there are only bands playing or are there going to be more activities? There hopefully will be food there, too.

True, there was a Facebook group that promoted the event, but the information on the group only states what the bands are and the times they perform. Also, many people saw BSG hand out small fliers to students for only one day.

Students, especially off-campus students, do not receive enough information about what the event consists of. The only advertisements they see are the ones posted in the Union if they even go there at all throughout the day. BSG has to realize that they need to reach out to off-campus students since they are a part of the “Student” in BSG.

Another thing that struck us as unusual was how the doors are supposed to open if the event is outside. Are there supposed to be fences that are acting as doors?

Brock-tober Fest is $10 for students and $25 for non-students.  There was also the good idea of the first 100 students getting their tickets at $5 each, but if a student does not want to pay $10 to get in the doors, all they really have to do is stand outside the fence, if there is one, and listen to the music. Most likely there will not be soundproof walls, so students will probably be able to hear all the music from their dorm rooms.

To help BSG out, we’ve decided to give you a run-down of the events at Brock-tober Fest. The line-up of the performers will be Amber Rose, last year’s Brockport Idol winner, Black Violin, The Hoodies, Meiko, Mat Kearney and finally Augustana.

Go Ask Alice will be there to give students tattoos for a price. Seward’s Candy will be there and the Smokehouse will be hosting a barbeque. The Marketing Club will offer students the chance to sledge-hammer a car for $1 per hit.  BSG will be giving out T-shirts for $2 and items like bottled water.  Since the day is anticipated to be nice, lawn chairs or blankets are recommended.

Now that you all know of the events, we hope you kick back and rock out with the four bands at Brock-tober Fest. Unfortunately, after hours of singing along the bands, we have to face reality that Monday is the start of heinous midterms.  Hopefully our grades won’t suffer.