Sarah Casagrande, Campus Carrier Entertainment Editor
Two of the largest annual KCAB events, Exam Jam and Block Party, will be combined for the first time into a new event, Finals Fest, on April 16.
“We’ve been toying with the idea of combining them for several years now,” KCAB president junior Krista Zalewski said. “They could be even better together.”
Senior Mackenzie Ross, Exam Jam co-chair, said that KCAB decided to combine the events because it was very hectic to have two major events hosted by two different committees right before finals.
While the committees for Exam Jam and Block Party are still separate, Zalewski oversees both of them to make sure that planning goes smoothly. There are 16 students on the Exam Jam committee and 10 students on the Block Party committee. Zalewski and junior Karolyn Olsen work for both.
“When you merge two events on a campus that is used to them being separate, you have to take it with an easy transition,” Ross said. “We see more of a merge between committees happening as time goes on.”
The committees are divided into groups that manage different parts of Finals Fest, such as publicity, artist management and logistics. The MisterWives concert alone has three different groups preparing everything.
“They do all the behind the stage work that we forget is necessary for a concert,” Ross said.
MisterWives is a New York City based indie pop band that will perform on stage at Finals Fest at 9:30 p.m. The opening act, COIN, will perform at 8 p.m.
“The committee keeps their ear on bands that everyone is talking about,” senior Grace Barker, artist management chair of Exam Jam, said. “We heard so many good things about them from people on campus that we decided to bring them.”
Preparation for the concert begins early. Up to a week before the show, the artist management committee goes shopping for any supplies that the bands may need.Lighting and stage setup for the band begins the Friday before the event.
“It’s a lot of manual labor getting everything set up,” Zalewski said. “But it’s cool to see everything pop to life.”
Ross said that KCAB had extra money this year and started looking into another big attraction for Finals Fest — hot air balloon rides. Kirkland Productions, an events company based out of Texas, will be supplying a balloon that can carry six people at a time up to 130 feet in the air.
“They’re very good at what they do and they are good at putting on events for college campuses,” senior Blake Petty, Finals Fest co-chair, said.
In addition to the concert and hot air balloon rides, Finals Fest will also feature a 30-foot stunt jump, ballpark pretzels, food trucks and inflatables.
“It’s shaping up to be one of my favorite events, even though it hasn’t happened yet,” Zalewski said.
Finals Fest begins at 5 p.m. on April 16 at the horseshoe between Laughlin and Moon Halls. The event is free for all students.