SAPB hosts annual Spring Fling festival

With a variety of rides, food and oncampus tabling, the festival proved to be a success.

Sam Lillianthal arts & culture editor

The wind blew students onto the heart of campus last Saturday for rides, food, music and more at the Student Association Programming Board (SAPB)’s annual Spring Fling festival. Similar to last year, the festival portion entertained students from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., with the concert part beginning at 7 p.m. in Lot F1.

The SAPB upped the ante this year with brand new rides that students flocked to, like bull riding and axe throwing attractions. All of the rides were centralized in the quad with returning favorites such as the Sizzler, Gravitron and Super Slide.

A whole variety of food options were available as well, including a mac and cheese food truck, Pinkies BBQ, B&B Kettle Korn and a Korean fusion grill named K-BQ. Near the Chenango Room, there were traditional carnival food and drink options like chicken fingers, onion rings, corn dogs, lemonade and fried dough.

Many student organizations were seen tabling with fun prizes, competitions and activities. The Binghamton Food Co-Op was present on the spine selling delicious food and drinks, the Campus Bible Fellowship offered free cherry or blue raspberry snow cones and the mental health helpline, Support Empathy Empowerment Kindness (SEEK), let students write affirmations on sticky notes.

One of the most notable organizations tabling was the Binghamton Education Club. The club was promoting its mission to help people with a passion for education and provide resources. They discussed their biweekly club meetings which ranged from making tote bags that were donated to local schools to stress-free activities like watching the hit show “Abbott Elementary.”

Ty Carpinello, vice president of the Binghamton Education Club and a junior majoring in biology, was happy to have been able to table and spread awareness.

“The amount of foot traffic Spring Fling has makes it one of the best events to attract new club members,” Carpinello said. “It was great to talk to other individuals who may want to pursue a career in education post-grad.”

Another main attraction was the student flea market which offered original crafts, art, jewelry and vintage clothing. Yume Igarashi, a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience, was selling handmade bead earrings, stickers and crochet keychains and stuffed animals. Igarashi was pleased to bring her work to the public and have others appreciate it as much as she does.

“Personally for me even a single piece of accessory I really love lifts up my day, so if I can contribute to that in anyway, that’s my main motivation,” Igarashi said.

The concert part of the festival began with a bang as the opener student band From the Bronx made a strong impression. Playing a mix of originals and rock covers, the four-piece band amped up the crowd for the next act.

At around 8 p.m., Surfaces took the stage during a dramatic introduction, starting with “Heaven Falls / Fall on Me,” one of their hit songs. The tranquil and summer grooves the duo created onstage put the audience in a relaxed and euphoric mood. Students also had lots of fun with glow sticks being passed around and a giant beach ball. After a nearly one-hour set, Surfaces concluded their set with their biggest hit “Sunday Best,” which had everyone singing along and dancing to it.

A little bit after 9 p.m., the adrenaline-boosting DJ Imanbek came onstage to give students a wild rollercoaster of a show. The Kazakhstan native played a variety of remixed songs such as “I’m Good (Blue),” “Feel So Close” and “Dynamite.”

The energy intensified as Imanbek continued dropping insane beats and seamlessly transitioned to new songs. The crowd’s hype levels went from 0 to 100 as giant mosh pits were formed leading to students bouncing around having a great time.

Shira Geula, a concert chair for SAPB and a senior majoring in business administration, thought the concert went smoothly with barely any hiccups. As her last project as concert chair, Geula has appreciated how rewarding and fun her job has been planning the fall concert and Spring Fling, but the finality of it also brings mixed feelings.

“This event being my last project makes me both really happy and really sad,” Geula wrote in an email. “I loved being able to bring a new genre, EDM, to campus but I am going to really miss doing this.”

Geula hopes people keep coming to events like these and support the students that make all of these events happen.

“I hope that people realize how much fun on-campus activities are and can be, and that they recognize that the big events here on campus like Spring Fling festival and concert are studentorganized,” Geula wrote in an email.