Andrews University never passes up on the opportunity to throw a fun event, and this is true whether it applies to today or to a few decades ago. As I was going through old newspaper articles, I stumbled upon an issue from October 1980 about AU’s annual Fall Fest (which is the equivalent of today’s yearly Barn Party). Let’s see what has changed and what hasn’t over the past four decades!
On October 11, 1980, an article named “Fall Fest Planned” was released in the Student Movement, detailing the upcoming festival. According to this article, the fall festival that year was the third one that AU had ever organized, making the origins of the Fall Fest start somewhere in 1977 or 1978. The Fall Fest had a special committee in place for its organization and execution, made up of both students and faculty (although it was mainly organized by the Men’s Club). It was funded through the administration and the Student Association. The theme that year was “Remember When…?” The festival was planned to last a total of eight days, and each day corresponded to a specific decade, which the students had to match with their attire. The article says, “Students are encouraged to dress according to the time period and participate in activities popular during the specific decades.” Even church services during the festival would “tie in with the reminiscence theme.”
Some of the highlights advertised for the event were a frisbee game with a professional team from Ann Arbor, self-defense clinics, free haircuts, a half-marathon run, and the star of the show, the Fall Festival carnival. The festival started with a handshake event, a picture shown in another article by the name “Fall Fest 1980: Do I Hear Five Dollars?” with the caption, “The annual ‘Handshake’ in Johnson auditorium helped Fall Fest get started on the right foot.” The eight-day festival also included auctions and blood drives. One of my favorite pictures from the article was one of a row of students with interesting-looking hats with the caption, “Here are some of the friendlier faces found roaming the cafeteria on Hat Day last Tuesday.”
It seems like the Fall Fest was quite the event back in the 80s! Who wouldn’t love to take part in an eight-day celebration with fun costumes and new activities every day? Just an idea, but why not try to revive it?...
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.