After four consecutive years of artists performing at Cal Poly’s Spring Stampede, Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) Events has decided to change the pace and create a free two-event alternative called “Spring Fever.”
One concert will take place May 10 at the Via Carta Mall, outside of Campus Market. A separate, second concert will take place May 31 at the University Union (UU) Plaza. Both shows will begin at 7 p.m., so students can enjoy the sunset while listening and dancing to the live music.
ASI Programs Coordinator Missi Allison-Bullock said total production costs of Spring Stampede were increasing while event attendance was decreasing, so they knew they needed to make some changes.
Spring Fever will be held in two separate locations to ensure more accessibility to different students across the campus. Bullock said the main goal is to meet the needs of more students this year.
In an Instagram post, ASI Events said they had conducted a needs assessment survey in Winter 2019 that indicated a majority of students were interested in a variety of genres of music and concert styles.
“We are trying something different this year to bring a greater variety of music to campus,” ASI Events said in the Instagram post.
Bullock said ASI Events has the same budget as Spring Stampede, but the artists’ fees were slightly higher in the past. She said they wanted to make better use of student fees by creating the two separate venues with less money going toward the artists.
ASI Events is in the midst of contracting performers and plans to announce the headliners soon, but Bullock said that there will be no local artists performing at Spring Fever.
ASI will not be checking for student IDs as “it is an open-air venue,” which means the event is open to all Cal Poly students and the community, Bullock said.
One concert will likely be hip-hop, and one will likely be pop, Bullock said.
During Week of Welcome (WOW) 2018, Icona Pop saw success with more than 1,000 attendees, so ASI said they would also like to satisfy students with a similar music genre. An alternative concert was hosted at yakʔitʸutʸu and the Poly Royal rodeo featured two similar shows, which could factor into the soon-to-be-announced Spring Fever headliners.