Instead of cars, the Student Activities Center parking lot was filled with festival rides on Saturday, Sept. 15 for the Undergraduate Student Government’s (USG) third annual Wolfieland Carnival.
For the first time ever, USG charged for admission. The price of a ticket started at $3 and went up to $5 if you purchased one the day of.
“For this year we wanted it to be ticketed because we wanted to make a revenue so that way we can put it back in the budget and then give it to more events on campus,” Adrian Ortega, USG treasurer and junior computer science major, said.
Last year, 6,000 people attended the event. In comparison only 2,400 tickets were sold this year, according to Ortega.
USG replied to students’ concerns about the new charge for admission via Instagram.
“While we know this event has been free for the 2 years that is has existed, we felt charging a small fee would allow us to do more for all students (i.e. raffle prizes, more games, a better quality carnival, and better artists for the concerts).”
Some students, like undeclared freshman Sam McGarry don’t agree with the change.
“As they were free in year’s past, I don’t think it’s necessary that they should be charging this year,” he said.
Even with the cost, other students maintained a positive outlook.
“I’m really excited for the environment. It’s going to be busy with a lot of people and I think that seeing that will be really cool,” freshman astronomy major Stephen Berg said.
USG spent $100,000 on the carnival. Students who paid for a ticket could take unlimited turns on four different rides including a ferris wheel and swing ride. Access to classic carnival games such as darts and ring toss was included in the price of admission as well. There were also multiple blow-up attractions, including a rock-climbing wall from sponsor Coca-Cola.
Hungry attendees could pick from a variety of different food vendors. Most of the vendors, including Jamaican Cafe, Kona shaved ice and Picante Tex-Mex only accepted cash or card. Bubble tea truck, Chatime, accepted Wolfie Wallet, and CulinArt had a booth where students could use Wolfie Wallet or dining dollars.
This year’s carnival had less rides than in previous years, but there were also more games and attractions. USG Vice President of Student Life Kojo Dansoh said including more games would prevent long lines, but some students said they still had to deal with considerable wait times.
“For most rides I was waiting about 15 to 20 minutes, sometimes 30, depending on the ride,” sophomore biology major Nick Rutig said.
When asked about future events such as Back to the Brook, Dansoh said he couldn’t speak on the topic but something’s going to be revealed in the upcoming weeks.
“In the next coming weeks something’s going to come out where students will have the opportunity to see what we’re going to do and our plan for the year so we are trying to keep that suspense and hype for students,” he said.
