The scents of clam chowder, empanadas, grilled chicken, and an array of other foods drifted over a lively crowd of nearly 2,000 students, faculty, family members and alumni on Welch Field on Saturday, Oct. 19 as part of USF’s annual Celebrate USF Food and Music Festival.
As students took a break from their academic responsibilities, they gathered alongside staff, faculty and alumni savoring the various dishes, grabbing free USF blankets and engaging in conversation with their family and friends.
Boudin, The Organic Coup, Bon Appetit and San Francisco’s Hometown Creamery gave attendees a range of free food options. Throughout the festival, Hometown Creamery attended to a never ending line for their scoops of ice cream. In addition to the food and desserts, the event also had an open bar that provided free drinks to guests of legal drinking age.
“It’s fun for me seeing all the families out here. In a moment like this, where they have music playing, you see the parents enjoying it but also being out here with my family as well. You know a lot of us come from out of state so we are away from our families, so being here you can tell who’s close with their family and I think I enjoy that aspect,” said Michael Byers, a senior computer science major.
The festival featured the Lucky Devils Band, who covered songs such as Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” as alumni, students and their families joined in the center of the field to dance and sing together. The event also featured an inflatable basketball hoop in front of Gleeson Library and a caricature artist that gave attendees a piece of the event to take home.
“The festival is a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed all the programming too. We loved the historian tour and really enjoyed the Silk Series speech,” said Mary Ann Brooks, parent of Sarah Brooks, sophomore double major in performing arts social justice and art history museum studies.
She added, “We’ve been real fans of [Sarah’s] good experience and all of her professors, just all the learning opportunities have been great.”
USF made sure alumni celebrated with various events over the course of the weekend ranging from Saturday’s Golden 50-Year Reunion for the Class of 1974 to Sunday’s Drag Trivia night at Scopo Divino, hosted by the Pride Alumni Group.
As previous students walked the ground of USF once again, some reflected on memories they’ve held onto over the years.
Brian Radikan, an alumnus of the class of 1974 said, “one year they had a little birthday party for me and gave me a black foreign cake from the Irish imports store down in Geary and I remember that.”
He added, “They also gave me an award for being the best driver for driving the float on St Patrick’s day for the Irish club at USF [in 1974]”
“[Celebrate USF] is a little more fun after midterms, after fall break, it gives me an excuse to be like ‘I’m going to get my homework done during the week and have some downtime with my family over the weekend,’ and break me out of my routine.” said Sarah Brooks.
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