Pitt Program Council moves Fall Fest indoors

The 48-degree, rainy weather on Saturday afternoon didn’t stop the organizers of Pitt’s… The 48-degree, rainy weather on Saturday afternoon didn’t stop the organizers of Pitt’s annual Fall Fest from constructing a campus carnival.

Pitt’s annual festival traditionally has students fill Bigelow Boulevard between Forbes and Fifth avenues, but this year the weather forced the Pitt Program Council to move the carnival indoors to the main floor of the William Pitt Union.

The activities included inflatables moonbounces, pumpkin painting, sand art, a rock wall, a photo booth, spin art, T-shirt graffiti art, poster decorating and Pitt-Tac-Toe.

Pitt Program Council publicized the event’s last-minute change of location by handing out flyers in Towers lobby and posting signs around Market Central on the day of the event.

Taylor Steffey, a PPC member working at Fall Fest, said the turnout indoors wasn’t what the organization had hoped for.

“I thought there would be a higher turnout … It’s the weather,” Steffey said.

But students waiting in line for spray painted T-shirts were disappointed — the booth ran out of T-shirts within the first hour and a half of the event. Attendence included a constant flow of students to the different activities, most events busy with several students at a time.

PPC member Lindsay Lehrman also said that the low number of students in attendance wasn’t what she was expecting, and if the event had been outside, “a lot more people would have come.”

In past years, Pitt Program Council has hosted various musical groups, including Motion City Soundtrack and The White Tie Affair. Similarly to last year, the organization opted not to feature a performer this year because the members wanted the event to maintain a theme different from that of Bigelow Bash, which occurs every spring.

“We don’t have a performer because we wanted to focus on the carnival theme. And it’s always been an annual carnival, and this time we’re bringing even more things,” PPC spokeswoman Rachel Kasab said.

The Program Council was able to move all activities inside, except for the thrill rides, which were not available for the event.

Fall Fest’s carnival theme made some college students feel young again. Those rejuvenated included freshman Ryann O’Neill.

“In high school I did everything to feel older, but now that I’m in college, I’m doing everything to make myself feel younger … I feel like a little kid again,” she said as she filled up her bottle with sand.

Even though Fall Fest had to be shifted indoors, those who attended actively participated in all the events the carnival had to offer. Students’ screams lightened the mood as they jumped on the inflatable moonwalk.

For most students, including freshman Tori Buck, the celebration’s most popular event was pumpkin decorating.

“I wanted to get into the fall mood with pumpkin painting,” Buck said before heading over to the sand art tables.

PPC supplemented the carnival activities with the talents of a DJ, who was playing pop music mixes in the ballroom to set the mood.

But despite the one short supply, the Program Council kept the carnival theme going all day with free food — cotton candy and popcorn — available to attendees.