By Chris Brook
A deluge of vendors, rappers, future strippers, and an ex-Real World cast descended on the Hynes Convention Center this past weekend in celebration of the 15th annual CollegeFest. The festival, which has always served as a school kick-off for the metropolitan Boston area was said to attract as many as 15,000 students over the weekend and according to the Boston Business Journal, “reap about $500,000” in its two days of operation.
Saturday’s festivities opened with a performance courtesy of the Crunch Fitness Cardio Striptease Dancers shortly after 1 p.m.
Four women in fitted black spandex, glossy black boots and florescent tank tops took the stage to the sound of Christina Aguilera’s “Dirty” and proceeded to twist, bend and curl to the pop tart’s ode to getting dirty. The quartet followed this by grinding and writhing around on four purple plastic chairs to Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U.” The foursome closed out their set by removing their tops to reveal black sports bras, falling to the ground and gyrating slowly across the stage.
Hoping to add eclecticism to the bill, a band, The Click, comprised of both Berklee alumni and current students, played their brand of self-proclaimed “new school power pop” to Saturday’s crowd. Local pop-rockers, Apollo Sunshine, Ohio’s hip-hop trio the Ordinary Peoples, Philly MC Cassidy, Violet Nine, the Rosenbergs and Angel rounded out the celebration’s two days of music.
“The music is obnoxious, but all in all it’s pretty good times,” said Will Beecher, a freshman political science major.
While music wasn’t the festival’s main draw, it certainly cost the most according to CollegeFest President and CEO Steve Burnett.
“It would’ve cost $55 a ticket alone for the music acts,” Burnett said.
Burnett, who’s been in Boston since June planning the festival, said that bringing well-known and national acts was one of his primary goals. This explains why eventually the ticket prices leveled off at $15 apiece, a $7 jump from last year’s price. Burnett also detailed how revenue was generated via CollegeFest’s 118 exhibitors and six sponsors. The exhibitors set up a maze of booths, desks, and kiosks in hopes of getting their product out to curious Boston students.
Everything from JetBlue Airways to eBay, PETA to the American Red Cross, and the U.S. Army to Playboy were represented. Needless to say, the longest line, stretching around seven booths, was to meet four Playboy models, get autographs and have them spray AXE body spray on your person. Elsewhere, Krispy Kreme gave away free donuts, Boston’s Metro recruited students for focus groups, Rock the Vote registered those of age to vote, Boston’s WB auditioned young actors for roles on teen shows and Clinique and Lancome offered complimentary makeovers.
Boston’s CollegeFest has already done better than Philadelphia’s, which according to Burnett, “just couldn’t get off the ground.” Regardless of how CollegeFest turns out, however, Burnett pointed out that he has interest in doing a high school version of the ‘Fest in the future, as well as a spring break bash in Panama City.
