The sweet sound of music echoed across Main Campus from the North Paseo Building to the Engineering Building. The sun’s warm rays and a cool, gentle breeze coaxed students from their classes to the source: UT San Antonio’s first Fall Fest. Patrons packed into the Sombrilla for this momentous occasion on Nov. 12 at 11 a.m.
Student volunteers and professors in the Academic Introduction & Strategies Department hosted the festival. Sophomore construction science and management, David Montero, volunteered to perform live for the entirety of the four-hour event. The seasoned performer has over a decade under his belt, and his vocal prowess showed it, one song after another.
“I’ve done about 400 gigs across the state and in different states,” Montero shared. “There’s a lot of covers, and eventually they get boring, so I try to just have my fun on them, essentially.
“I made this one a bit with a jazz-bolero beat to it, but otherwise it’s the same song. Let’s challenge y’all’s taste here. This is called ‘What You Won’t Do for Love.’”
With Monero’s vocals in the background, students explored the array of tents throughout the Sombrilla. AIS sold customizable tote bags, candles, beanies and bracelets. The less creatively inclined could purchase cowboy hats, koozies, pet IDs and vinyl decor from the AIS booths as well.
Campus Services created a tree out of leaves, but the leaves were letters written by students sharing what they were thankful for. UT San Antonio Dining sold conchas and horchata. Next to the two tents stood the tent of Gardopia Gardens.
“Gardopia is a nonprofit. We do garden-based learning. We started on the Inner East side,” farmers market coordinator Jodi Cruz said. “We have a micro farm there where we have some garden beds where we grow produce that we harvest and put out in our community pantry.
“We’re offering a donation-based payment. So whatever they want to pay for whatever they want to take is how we’re working today,” Jodi affirmed. “We’re hoping to build a partnership here with UTSA.”
Suddenly, tragedy struck. At 11:30 a.m., multiple walls for the hay bale maze of cardboard boxes tumbled to the ground. The structure was nowhere close to finished when Fall Fest started, and what little progress was made was repeatedly set back by the wind. The breeze proved to be a blessing and a curse.
The student volunteers, despite their frustrations, quickly returned to rebuilding. Their dedication was commendable and far outshone the final product. Sophomore art major Chandler Wiginton and freshman music major Evan Pena worked tirelessly in the afternoon sun to finish the maze.
“The walls were going to be higher, but obviously the wind [was] blowing it down, so we had to go to two boxes,” Pena admitted. “It was definitely a long and complicated effort, but we were fortunate to have a lot of helpers.”
The walls, wrapped in a haybaled-textured sheet, stood no more than a foot tall, but this did not deter students from navigating the twists and turns.
“I think right now what we have is pretty good for our first year,” Wiginton said. “It’s amazing how a lot of people are really enjoying this and taking advantage of it.”
Aside from the maze, festivalgoers could toss rings on the tops of large pumpkins and play cornhole while sampling new iced tea lemonade flavors from Lipton’s tent nearby. A few dozen people sat at a long Thanksgiving table in front of the John Peace Library to paint tiny pumpkins supplied by AIS.
“I’ve been seeing people walking around with the crafts they’ve made. I saw Spider-Man Pumpkin, and I’m so jealous, I gotta make myself one,” Wiginton noted. “When I was walking through, everyone seemed pretty happy. And the music is a great touch, I think it adds a lot to the environment.”
Minor setbacks and a major turnout made the first-ever Fall Fest a success. The efforts of the AIS department paid off, bringing in an autumnal atmosphere to the warm, sunny Alamo City. The second annual Fall Fest is eagerly anticipated.
