Memorial Day weekend is one where college students go have fun, see shows and enjoy life.
And campus radio station KWVA 88.1 believes in doing the same.
KWVA will be present at Sasquatch! Music Festival this weekend. Sasquatch! is one of the
largest music festivals in the Northwest and takes place every year in the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Wash.
“Music is a huge deal … so it makes sense that we’re interested in going,” KWVA Music Director Hannah Dischinger said. “Not only will it be fun to attend, but it’s also an important bonding experience for our staff members and volunteers.”
The Sasquatch! lineup this year includes acts by Vampire Weekend, Minus the Bear, Public Enemy, Kid Cudi, Pavement, Massive Attack, Ween, MGMT, Passion Pit and Band of Horses. The music festival also includes comedy acts and runs from Saturday through Monday this weekend.
More than 40 KWVA staff and volunteers are going to Sasquatch! this weekend in University motorpool vans leaving today at noon. Once at the Gorge, KWVA will set up camp and mingle with the rest of the Sasquatch! crowds. The trip was paid for by attendees paying for their own tickets to Sasquatch! and a small fee to KWVA for food and camping.
“Our trip this year seems like it will be a great success, and our turnout is stellar,” Dischinger said. “We have an enormous contingent of people attending in our group, so we’ll be pretty hard to miss.”
KWVA members hope that University students and other festival-goers will stop by their camp to not only appreciate the festival’s music, but score free KWVA goodies, such as
sunglasses, lip balm, lighters and reuseable waterbottles.
“Basically all of the essentials for a music festival,” KWVA Outreach Coordinator Sachie Yorck said.
Yorck is not only looking forward to the music, but to the venue as well. The Gorge
Amphitheatre is world-renowned for its scenic location and acoustics on the Columbia River. Festival-goers leave the campsite nearby to attend as many shows as they can stomach during the day, since re-entry isn’t allowed.
KWVA DJ Adeline Tan is attending her first Sasquatch! Music Festival this year with the KWVA group, and is looking forward to all of the fun to be had at the festival with the University radio station.
“I’m excited about mainly listening to bands all day,” Tan said in the KWVA station as she played Broken Social Scene. “I’m also excited about the community (there), too, because everyone who is there loves music as much you do. It’s about the environment.”
Yorck thinks that KWVA attending the festival is a good thing for both the station and the festival-goers.
“I think it’s great that we’re going (to Sasquatch!) to represent the station and Eugene, to expand our tastes in music and to bring a home base to all of the Eugene kids,” she said.
Dischinger hopes University students stop by the KWVA camp.
“You don’t have to be associated with KWVA to come hang out, meet us, chill under our canopy and even take away some KWVA goodies,” Dischinger said. “We love our campus and want to invite people to hang out this weekend.”
Dischinger also sees KWVA attending Sasquatch! as a way to outreach to other listeners.
“Not only will we hopefully be seeing UO students and Eugene community members at the
festival, but we can also broaden our listenership by meeting people from all over the region and country,” she said.
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