Gator Activities Programming will host its annual Springfest from April 4-6. In a ceremony in the Henderson Campus Center lobby on March 23, this year’s theme was revealed to be based on the iconic Super Mario Bros. video game franchise.
Tilly Earwood, ’25, is the director of marketing and acting vice president for GAP. Familiar with the event from previous years, she gave an overview of the process that typically occurs the first weekend of April.
“Springfest is an annual Allegheny tradition,” Earwood said. “It’s a weekend full of events.”
There is evident excitement on campus whenever the Springfest draws near. Students and faculty look forward to what GAP has in store.
“I think it’s a really exciting event, said V Belcher, ’26, director of community relations for GAP. “It’s definitely GAP’s biggest event, arguably, throughout the year and I know the campus gets really excited about it too.”
This year will be a bit different from past events, as GAP aims to “jam-pack” the weekend with fun activities as opposed to hosting just a few. Everyone is encouraged to participate, and the additional events are meant to help to ensure that there will be opportunities for everyone.
“Instead of having one event a night to get really excited for, we’re trying to create more inclusive events. So Saturday night we have a really big party going on on the Gator Quad, but for people who wouldn’t be as excited about the foam pit, and the music and everything, we’ll have a movie showing going on inside the building as well,” Earwood said. “We’ll have options available for people who want to get out and get involved with that community connection but aren’t as drawn to the big, loud parties that are usually associated with GAP.”
This year, after collaboration and brainstorming, the group landed on the theme of “Super Springfest,” a play on Nintendo’s “Super Smash Bros.” A Super Smash Bros. Tournament will be held on Saturday in the campus center lobby from 7-8:30 p.m. In collaboration with the Legion of Allegheny Gamers, there will be a projector set up, a bracket tournament and prizes for the winners.
“There will be the opportunity to win a Nintendo Switch for the winner with a Nintendo game,” Earwood said.
The official schedule for the weekend includes the “Rainbow Road Roller Rink” and a Holi celebration on Friday. A Super Smash Bros. Tourney and “Luigi’s Mansion Glow Party” will take place on Saturday, and the “Level up Lounge” with the Chalk Shop takes place on Sunday.
Board members, as well as student requests, played roles in the selection of activities.
Past Springfests failed to capture the attention of Grant Dowden, ’26.
“I never really went to the campus events that much,” he said.
However, he plans to at least attend the roller rink after catching a glimpse of it last year.
“I saw that (roller rink) in the campus center though, right? It actually did look kind of fun,” Dowden said.
Though excited for the roller rink this weekend, Dowden would like to see the mechanical bull brought back from years past.
“We’ve got a little bit of variety for everybody to get involved at some point,” Earwood said, “We kind of collaborate and compromise to find the best fit for the campus based on the popular events we’ve seen through the year. Anyone who’s on the board can get involved. Not only on the board but also people across campus. We love hearing from the students themselves.”
GAP is keen on collecting critiques and opinions on the events that they host. It is important to them to adjust to the interest of the student body.
“We have a feedback form that we encourage people to fill out following our events,” Earwood said. “We do keep close attention to the responses on there so we can find out what people want to see and what people enjoy so we can keep bringing that stuff back.”
The ultimate goal is for students to attend events and enjoy the opportunities that are offered, making memories in a positive atmosphere. It was noticeable to Belcher that after the pandemic less people showed interest.
“I think that post-COVID is definitely a different world for the college and I feel like there’s a trend of a little less involvement across campus, which is understandable,” Belcher said. “We really want to revitalize and bring back some of the spark of in-person involvement for sure.”
Despite this, the level of participation at GAP’s last Wingfest was noticeably improved.
“We were blown away by Wingfest numbers, another one of our bigger events,” Earwood said.
Though there have been improvements implemented this year for Springfest, some things will remain the same.
“Because of popular demand we actually brought back the roller rink this year which will be stationed in the CC lobby. It’s really cool, it’s just like tiles that they put down on the floor, so it’s portable,” Earwood said.
To put on the celebration, partnerships were formed with three other organizations: the South Asian Students Society, LAG, as well as Meadville’s Chalk Shop. GAP is open to working with other clubs and also to offering them assistance throughout the year with processes like event planning or funding.
“We usually like to work with some of the local businesses down in Meadville, this year we’re working with the chalk shop,” Belcher said.
Events like Springfest are made possible by their partnerships, but also by Allegheny funding. Unlike other clubs, they do not filter their finances through Allegheny Student Government.
“We’re funded by the college,” Earwood said. “We are not an ASG organization so we get our funding separate. We don’t go through ASG, we go through the school instead.”
Grand total prices for Springfests vary year to year, given the fact that a concert is hosted every other Spring.
“Every other year we’ll have a major events concert, we’ll put together a bigger name concert,” Earwood said., “We had Flo Milli and NLE Choppa last year, so that’s something that will be occurring next year for underclassmen to look forward to.”
Advertisements and information can be found on posters, fliers, Instagram and Gator Hub. Through these upcoming festivities, GAP hopes to foster a sense of community on campus.
“I would argue that GAP’s biggest purpose is kind of community connection,” Earwood said. “Hearing from students to get programming done so that we can get more students involved across campus. General programming that gets everyone involved and excited, and get that last little push to get us through finals.”.
GAP members remind students to have fun and enjoy what they have prepared for everyone.
“We’re just excited. We can’t wait for people to see what we’ve been working on,” Earwood said.
“This is a planning process that has started since the beginning of the semester, even going into last semester,” Belcher said. “To have people just see the hard work we put into it is really exciting, and for us to see everyone enjoying it is a great experience for us too.”