Although the Mallard Madness concerts had their hitches, organizers were pleased with how the event turned out as a whole, citing how many people attended and the positive feedback they received.
“The event went successfully; it happened,” said Noah Wolf-Prusan, Jewish Student Union president and ASUO Programs Finance Committee chair@@commenter says he is not a senator@@ who played a major part in securing financing for the event. “I was really excited to hear students chanting ‘Go Ducks’ and throwing up the ‘O’ and cheering. It was a really cool community bonding experience.”@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Noah+Wolf-Prusan@@
The biggest issue the event had was its security during Friday night’s RJD2 concert. There were students in the crowd using marijuana and consuming alcohol, and the barriers in front of the stage were under constant risk of collapse, occupying the Crowd Management Services security personnel who were responsible for maintaining the peace at the event.
RJD2’s performance ended prematurely after someone in the crowd hurled a bottle at the stage, disappointing those who had taken the time to organize the concert.
“Friday night, I think the crowd was a little bit rowdier; there were some complications,” ASUO Outreach Coordinator Brian Allen said. “That was obviously a security issue, so we had to cut his set a little short.”@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Brian+Allen@@
After the safety issues Friday night, which Wolf-Prusan said included people urinating in public, event organizers were left scrambling to find a solution for Saturday night’s Yeasayer and A-Trak concerts. Sturdier barriers were brought in from Matthew Knight Arena, and there was an increased presence of Department of Public Safety officers and CMS employees in an attempt to control the crowd’s behavior.
“Especially for RJD2, the fencing wasn’t sturdy enough. Thank God the fence was there. If the fence fell, we were going to cancel the show right then,” Wolf-Prusan said. “We were able to react really quickly from Friday night and come up with a much safer environment for Saturday night.”
The event’s security issues were exacerbated by its venue, the EMU Amphitheater. Allen said roughly 3,500 people attended Friday night’s concert and roughly 6,000 attended Saturday night’s event.@@I challenge those numbers@@
“I would say that the venue that we had was not the most ideal, just because of logistics and the fact that it’s kind of a small area, at least where the stage was,” Allen said. “We didn’t originally want to have it in the Amphitheater, but because of logistical things and timing, we had to have it there.”
Residence Hall Association President Teresa Chan, who was involved in funding Mallard Madness, said financial constraints forced event organizers to seek a low-cost venue for the inaugural event. Chan also said making the EMU Amphitheater work for hosting the event was “one of our biggest challenges.”@@http://rha.uoregon.edu/@@
“When it came down to funding, the Amphitheater was the only viable option,” Chan said. “When it comes to future events, a bigger venue would be nice, especially in terms of safety.”
Safety issues aside, Mallard Madness’ organizers were happy with how the event turned out, mentioning the quality of the performances, the energy of the crowds and the number of people in attendance.
“The artists and the music standpoint was the most successful aspect of the show,” Allen said. “We got compliments from the record labels saying they liked our lineup.”
The diversity of the attendees reflected the diversity of Mallard Madness’ events, which also included the ASUO Street Faire, the Mother’s Day Pow-Wow and the Arabian Nights cultural event.@@http://www.dailyemerald.com/2011/05/04/mallard-madness-offers-rich-lineup-of-culture-duck-pride/@@
“We did really well. We got a large demographic of students showing up and supporting the event, given that it’s the first year and the first time we put on an event like this,” Chan said. “Friday and Saturday night there was a lot of enthusiasm and the crowds were really happy and satisfied.”
For an event that was in the works since September, the students involved in its planning were pleased with the final Mallard Madness product.
“The whole vision was to make it a student-run, student-funded concert,” Wolf-Prusan said. “It was really empowering, really cool to see what we could do.”