Saturday April 30 will mark another consecutive year of the Houghton Palooza, the annual festival for students to celebrate the year. The event is hosted by the townhouses, but is open to all of Houghton’s students and the surrounding community as well. Townhouse resident assistant (RA) Kerianne Shaw ‘17 noted efforts to make it “family friendly” and “exciting,” encouraging Houghton’s students and families to attend. The usual planning committee of RAs and faculty adviser JL Miller have partnered with the campus activities board (CAB) this year. According to CAB representative, Kasey Cannister ‘17, this has allowed access to CAB materials and “improved the efficiency of planning it.”
The Palooza offers a variety of activities, but Miller and Cannister expressed particular enthusiasm for this year’s lineup of student and faculty bands. “Last year we had a harder time booking bands,” Miller explained. “This year we started really early communications with bands across campus to get quality bands who wanted to perform.” Cannister notes that the Palooza was originally “created to be a Houghton music festival,” and looks forward to the bands being “a big presence in the whole Palooza.” The featured bands include “The Burdo and the Bee,” “The Sorrow Estate,” “Marc LeGrand and Friends,” “True Cliche,” Mitch Beattie and the Heartbreakers,” as well as talented students and faculty without official band names. “We’ve been joking at meetings about things we can call them,” Kasey Cannister noted.
In addition to the bands Miller noted that while music is a big part of the event, it’s not the only aspect of the Palooza. Shaw said the planning committee has “called on clubs to help with manning stations,” including crafts, henna, face painting, snacks, and yard games such as corn hole and spike ball. Cannister expressed particular excitement for badminton. Cotton candy and popcorn will be offered throughout the event, with hot dogs available at lunch time. “If the weather holds,” Miller mentioned a 40 foot inflatable obstacle course has been reserved. “I’m really hoping for good weather,” he sids.
In addition to good weather, Miller is hoping for “a return to the original momentum of Houghton Palooza.” Now planning his fifth Palooza, he emphasized it as a time for students to “celebrate and reflect on how the year has been.” He is excited by this year’s increased band involvement, and noted last year “we made music less central, but from my perspective we lost something.” He hopes students will “at least stop by.”
With both students and the Houghton community attending, the planners express their appreciation of the time of fun and fellowship. “I’m excited to see everyone out and together,” Shaw said. Miller echoes this and stated, “What excites me most is just people showing up and having fun.”