Students celebrate Fall Fest

‘One More Song!’ ‘One More Song!’ Chants rang from the crowd as Motion City Soundtrack walked… ‘One More Song!’ ‘One More Song!’ Chants rang from the crowd as Motion City Soundtrack walked off the stage after performing hits like ‘It Had to Be You,’ ‘This is For Real’ and ‘My Favorite Accident’ for Pitt students gathered on Bigelow Boulevard and the Cathedral of Learning’s steps and railings. ‘Wow. I don’t even know what to say,’ said lead singer Justin Pierre as the band reemerged for an encore. Fans cheered, crowd-surfed, threw clothing onto the stage and sang along as the band played two more songs, ending the Pitt Program Council’s Fall Fest on Saturday. Masses of students participated in numerous activities at the annual event on the Union lawn from 1 to 7 p.m. Students enjoyed apple cider and freshly-popped kettle corn while they painted pumpkins, decorated multi-colored Go Green Pitt Program Council bags and created spin art. A case of sandwich thievery delayed the Primanti Bros. sandwich-eating contest, scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.. Students watched as an unnamed person stole one of the cheesesteaks from the table shortly before the competition was set to begin. With only 14 people able to participate, 12 men and two women, the PPC started the race anyway. Pitt senior Ben Gillespie, in tears, finished first and won a $100 Visa gift card. Fall Fest provided free ice cream, caricatures and airbrushed T-shirts to any student who was willing to wait in line, too. Carnival games lined one side of Bigelow Boulevard. Students also could take in the sounds of Hero Atlantic, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Saves the Day during the six-hour event. Henna tattoos and wax hand-making were available, too.’ For Oakland’s aspiring competitive eaters, Gillespie said that the key to winning was ‘pouring water on the sandwich and eating it as fast as possible. ‘The water makes it easier to swallow,’ he said. Gillespie trained by eating three pounds of pasta and drinking a gallon of water the day before. He had already won three previous contests: pie, hot dog and Spam eating contests. ‘The Spam was definitely the most difficult,’ he said. ‘I was definitely in the bathroom an hour later. Thankfully it won’t be the same with this one. This was a wonderful experience.’ Pitt Program Council instated a new registration technique this year by giving undergraduate students orange cards that listed the events available. Once a student went to that event, a PPC committee member stamped the card. However, the event staff ran out of cards before the end of the day. Brian Pham, a junior and pharmacy major, said he thought that the cards were a good idea but were not very effective. ‘I understand the logic behind them,’ he said. ‘I just think that they should have prepared for more students to come. Plus, if they ran out, that means that some students could just walk in without monitoring and could do more things than the people who had to punch their cards.’ Junior Gwen Weaver agreed. ‘I’ve been looking for pumpkins ever since I got here,’ she said. ‘This is fun, but I wish they had a better supply of stuff, not just long lines for everything.’ But overall, Pham and Weaver said the event was a success and made their Saturdays worthwhile. ‘Fall Fest was sick this year,’ said Weaver. ‘Great activities, great music, especially Motion City Soundtrack. I’ll definitely be back for Bigelow Bash and this next year.’