Sloughfest, a music festival that will take place in the Lindberg Stadium, has set a date for May 2. It will be the first music festival of this size that the college will host in decades, with major artists expected to perform.
“Students should expect something high energy, and once they enter the gates there is just going to be endless amounts of fun,” said Justin Bishop, who is in charge of artist relations for the event. “There will be something for everyone.”
Planning such a large scale event means having a large
budget.
“Financial stability was one of the biggest challenges when making this initial vision come to life,” said LaSalle Smith, head of marketing for the event.
Smith said he and Bishop originated the idea along with other students in the dorms.
“We met with Ken Brill (Director of OSL) and Marvin McCouri and realized that we could make this become a reality,” said Smith.
Sponsors include OSL, Resident Hall Association (RHA), CORE, Student Government Association (SGA), the Greek council and Spanish Club. The events budget is in the tens of thousands of dollars.
“It says a lot about the community that each organization is willing to give so much back to the student body,” Smith said. “We want this experience to be about the students and we want them to feel rewarded, and seeing each organization come together and work so well together shows how versatile Augustana students can be. It defines our students, seeing everybody interacting with different opinions, different committees, and getting work done.”
In the spring of last year, the Sloughfest team used surveys to determine what type of music should be performed at the festival. Smith said EDM and hip-hop got the most votes.
According to several Augustana students, Vic Mensa, a Chicago native who has toured with Wale and J. Cole and has performed at Lollapalooza and Coachella, is the rumored headlining artist set to perform. The Sloughfest representatives could not confirm this information at this time, though. Smith said the Sloughfest team hopes to release the headline in the next couple weeks.
“I have just heard from people around campus that Vic Mensa or possibly Chance the Rapper will be performing, and personally I think that would be insane,” said first-year student Tyler Simpson. “Those artists are some of my favorite so to say I got to see them in person would be fun.”
More information can be found on the Sloughfest website www.Sloughfest.wix.com/2015.