“It’s one of the best events of the year.it’s all about eating well and sustainability,” fine arts professor, Wayne Hulgin, said, as he helped with face painting.
This year’s Fall Festival took place at the Urban Garden on Oct. 27 . Karon Klipple, Director of the Environmental Stewardship Committee, mentioned that this year the main focus was the garden. The festival included: a salsa making contest, salsa dancing lessons, free food, live music, tours of the garden and a pumpkin-carving contest.
Terry Wilson, dance professor and co-chair of the ESC put the event together. “We had it last year and then they weren’t going to do it again,” Wilson said. “I thought that was sad, we should do it.”
Children from the Child Development Center attended and participated in face and pumpkin painting .
Nick Slinglend, an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at City College created a slideshow about the Urban Garden. Bob Pruitt and Floyd Fronius entertained attendees with live jazz from noon to 1 p.m.
Approximately 30 students helped during the festival: serving food, giving tours of the garden and helping children with pumpkin painting and carving. Students also sold jewelry and ceramics which were created by art students and Terri Hughes-Oelrich ,a ceramics professor at City College.
Eva Zuzuarregui, an arts major, displayed approximately 40 boxes of her hand-made jewelry. Hughes-Oelrich, hosted a sale of ceramic mugs and bowls, said, she thought it was “a fun thing to go with the festival.”
Student Kendra Perkins, won first prize at the salsa-making contest and received a bag full of herbs, produce, and flowers. Hughes-Oelrich took second.
Students Jesse Watford and Martha Marmolejo, both anthropology majors, took students on tours of the garden. The students who gave tours were from Professor Ellen Turkel’s health and weight training classes. Turkel said she brought them for a fact-finding game, to take a tour and to learn the awareness of better eating. Watford said the fact-finding game involved talking about the “emerging concept in America of the urban farm.”
Michelle Jackson, a Fine Arts major, said she brought salsa and carved a pumpkin. “I think it’s great,” Jackson said. “It’s really wonderful to see everybody coming together and enjoying.the fruits of the garden here and enjoying the fall season.”
Salsa dancing lessons were given by Alicia Rincon, Director of the Dance Program at City College. It began with a demonstration of dance students performing salsa. People were asked to join in and learn, first learning a couple simple steps, and then pairing off into couples.
Rincon said that the festival is “a fantastic idea.”
“It brings people together for awareness of what we’re doing here on campus,” Rincon said. “It’s an opportunity for students and faculty to see what’s going on.”