Student representatives involved in the planning process of Revelry, an end-of-the-year festival sponsored by student government to take place May 4, are continuing plans for the event and readying to announce the final lineup this Thursday.
The sites of the festival will include Union South Plaza, the Sett and South Randall Avenue, Revelry Executive Committee Director Sarah Mathews said, adding along with the April 4 lineup announcement will come a new series of updates.
In the next month leading up to Revelry, Mathews said the committee plans to tackle marketing and logistics-based issues. She said the committee wants to ensure promotions are on track and a definite plan is in place for the day of the event.
The committee also wants to make sure as many people as possible to know about the festival and its lineup after it is announced, Mathews added.
Associated Students of Madison Chair Andrew Bulovsky said he found the opportunity to be involved in the planning process to be rewarding for himself and his colleagues. Specifically, he cited learning about what goes into something as large of an event as Revelry as one of the most enjoyable aspects.
The biggest things student leaders will focus on in the month leading up to the festival, Bulovsky added, will be getting the word about Revelry out to the student body and trying to get students to understand the excitement behind the festival.
“We really just want to have the opportunity to increase awareness on the event and that people are aware of where everything is happening for the event,” Bulovsky said.
Mathews also said she found the opportunity to work on planning the event to be a great learning experience. She said it has provided the students involved the opportunity to work heavily with a variety of departments within the university and city administrations.
Mathews said she feels what will add the perfect touch to the festival is that along the entire way, the planning for the event has been student-run and those involved have stayed actively engaged in the process.
“I think there was understandable apprehension on the part of some administrators during the fall semester … about whether students could plan this event,” Mathews said. “I’m glad we stuck to our guns; I think Revelry would look very different, or [would] not be happening at all, if it weren’t student-led.”
Mathews said her biggest concern for the festival is that students will perceive Revelry as an anti-Mifflin party, which she strongly indicated is not the case at all.
Many people involved in the process have experienced Mifflin themselves, according to Mathews. She said they wanted to make Revelry into something that students could attend as a final end-of-the-year event and go home satisfied with their last weekend of the school year.
The University of Wisconsin Police Department will handle any issues at the festival and the Madison Police Department will help as needed, according to Mathews. She said procedures will happen just like other large university events, like football games.
