If you ventured out to the booths at Spring Weekend, you probably noticed the set-up was a little bit different. Last semesters, Director of Student Union and Involvement Susan Sullivan sent out an email to the student body asking them for feedback about Spring Weekend and Oktoberfest. She requested to learn about what students liked and disliked about Longwood's two weekend festivals. That information was then collected and analyzed.
Sullivan said the two biggest issues students had were that the booth area around Lankford Student Union was too crowded and there were not enough activities to do during the day, such as not enough inflatable items.
"What we did was we took that information, and I called a meeting of all the folks that have some involvement in Spring Weekend and Oktoberfest." That meeting included representatives from ARAMARK, Grounds, Conferencing and Scheduling, Lancer Productions, Longwood University Police and others. She said the meeting consisted of what changes could be made. "We just started throwing out ideas. What we came out with was what you saw this past weekend."
Sullivan, in an interview on Tuesday, said everyone seems to like the new set-up so far. Students such as Molly Monaghan, Lancer Lunatics secretary, agreed with her. "As far as the booth set up goes, I approve," said Monaghan. "It's great. And I'm looking forward to Oktoberfest."
Morgan Thompson, stage mom for Longwood Company of Belly Dance, added, "I like the set up. However, it would be nice if we could get to choose the booths because we like to have more space for henna and stuff ... I like how everyone is more together and how it's easier to navigate." However, she did add it was a bit crowded at times.
Sullivan said by putting the booths on Stubbs Lawn, more space was allotted between them, one of the issues found in the feedback surveys. While the change ushered positive feedback, there was a concern with how tight the space was between the chili booths, those closest to the Oozeball pit.
The ARAMARK staff commented on the convenience of the cooking and serving area, as it is much closer to Dorrill Din¬ing Hall (D-Hall). Now, workers no longer need to truck items around as they can now just wheel and walk items to and from D-Hall with ease. Complaints about the Beer Garden being too far away were also put to rest after it was moved from Madison Street to the student union lawn, so students could enjoy a beer and watch the bands.
The inflatable items and dunk tank were moved to across from the Janet D. Greenwood Library. The only problem was that since it was out of the way, fewer students might have realized those activities were there. "I think we do need to do a better job of letting students know there is more stuff over there," said Sullivan. "We want to get feedback from the students. If they have any feedback, good, bad, indifferent or whatever, they can e-mail us at lankford@longwood. edu." She said there are definitely a few things they know need to be "tweaked" but overall, people have liked the changes. "Most of the feedback we've heard has been pretty positive." She said that many people have just been asking "why."
Nishant Kanitkar, vice president of the Association for Computing Machinery, said, "This set up is alright. It's a little bit more difficult with having people next to us for setting up, but we got it done." ACM offered students a chance to "take whacks" at old computer equipment. "It's a winwin- win for everyone," commented Kanitkar. "It's good to be in the corner for us because we have stuff lying around a bit, so we want to be as far away from other people as possible. But it worked out really good ... "
Since the new layout has received a majority of positive reviews so far, it looks like it will stick for Oktoberfest in the fall. The change also means more booths could be seen on the lawn. With the new set-up, more than 70 booths could fit on the grounds. "We had well over, 10 plus, on the wait list. We could probably accommodate at least another five booths up there," Sullivan said. The only problem is providing more lumber for upcoming years. The lumber for the booths is reused as much as possible unless pieces are old and damaged. She said one valid issue a student had was losing that "natural crowd" that hangs out around the bands and would often visit the booths. She said though that is a loss, she noted that as being one of the reasons for the overall change of the weekend's set up.
Michelle Goldchain contributed to this report.
