Bigelow Bash 2.0 to start Friday

Pitt Program Council will kick off an expanded version of its annual Bigelow Bash… Pitt Program Council will kick off an expanded version of its annual Bigelow Bash Friday.

The new version, called Bigelow Bash 2.0, will include a spring concert and a carnival, making it more similar to the event Carnegie Mellon holds each spring to the envy of Pitt students.

The bash will run from 3 to 11 p.m. Friday, 1 to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday — two days longer than it has lasted in the past.

PPC special events director and Pitt junior Jillian Reilly said people suggest getting a Ferris wheel for Bigelow Bash every year, and the organization decided to expand on that idea. It hired a carnival company.

“We wanted to step it up and make things different and exciting. [The carnival company is] bringing multiple carnival rides … real rides, not just blowups,” Reilly said.

In addition to a Ferris wheel, Swank’s Steel City Shows, a local professional carnival company that will run Bigelow Bash and also runs CMU’s annual carnival, will bring a Monkey Maze — a walkthrough funhouse with mirrors — and three other adult rides called The Hurricane, Zero Gravity and the High Flyer, as well as a short-range basketball game.

Patty Swank, co-owner and operator of Swank’s Steel City Shows, said the company won’t bring more family rides and games because Reilly requested it bring the maximum number of rides that could fit in the event space.

The company provides employees who work for them throughout the year to run all of the games, rides and food.

Swank said there will be lemonade, corndogs, funnel cakes, Icees and frozen treats.

Pitt Program Council members will work the ticket booth, which Reilly said will probably be on the sidewalk outside the William Pitt Union by Bigelow Boulevard. Students can purchase tickets the day they want to ride the rides.

Pitt students can purchase $5 all-day wristbands for unlimited rides or pay $2 per ride. Non-students can pay $10 for an all-day wristband or $4 per ride. Games and food will be available for a cash fee.

Carnival setup began at noon yesterday and was scheduled to continue through this morning, with the exact setup time depending upon the weather, Swank said. Electrical equipment and rides had to be transported from the Swank’s storage facility in Apollo, Pa., which is about an hour northeast of Pittsburgh.

Rock band Jack’s Mannequin will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday. Sleepy V and Sleeping with a Bullet, the winner and runner-up in the PPC-sponsored Battle of the Bands last February, will perform as opening acts.

Some students have expressed a lack of enthusiasm for the Bash based on past years.

“I’d like to see better bands,” sophomore Daniel Johnston said, referring to previous Bigelow Bash artists. “I mean, Penn State has Jay-Z. PPC did get Kid Cudi and Jack’s Mannequin though, so my faith is being restored.”

PPC is working to change students’ assumptions about the event. Its website has a “caution” message telling people to “throw out your opinions of the past and embrace the future concept of this new event.”

Pitt junior Brett Carly, who worked at last year’s Bigelow Bash, thought poor weather made the event less of a success.

“The caricature line was ridiculous, and so was the line for airbrushed t-shirts,” she said.

Reilly said PPC won’t have those activities this year because the carnival rides will take up all the room they have.

Sophomore Susan Schwend said that she didn’t attend Bigelow Bash last year because she only heard about it the day of event and she didn’t have time to go.

“I’m not really into those events … but I love Jack’s Mannequin. Perfect. I’m going on Sunday,” Schwend said, realizing while she was talking that the concert was on Sunday.

Planning for the Bash began last semester, in late October. Reilly said that the special events committee members brainstormed a list of musical artists they wanted to see perform at Pitt. They worked with an agent who contacted the prospective musical guests’ agents to find out who was available for the date. The committee then chose the artist based on who fit its price range.

Reilly said that PPC has a budget that gets split up among each of its committees.

“We have to budget our money according to what activities we want to do that year. Since it’s a carnival this year, it’s been a lot of going back and forth with the carnival company and seeing what rides and games are available,” Reilly said.

She said the special events committee is unsure of what the total cost is right now.

“We keep an ambulance there all weekend, and we have to pay for security and facilities. So we have to wait until all of those bills come in,” Reilly said.