Photos by Kayla Kimball and Brian Wagenaar
SpringFest’s 2022 iteration, held Saturday, April 23, featured Extra Gold, Julia Wolf, and Y2K, marking a return for the annual music festival after a pandemic-induced hiatus.
“It definitely made my entire year of stress worth it,” says Erin Mulholland, SpringFest’s lead organizer and a Western senior studying Business Administration. Mulholland served as the Student Director of Program Council for the past three years, but transitioned into a role focused solely on SpringFest for 2021-22. She played a key role in planning and booking the 2020 and 2021 editions of SpringFest, which were ultimately canceled due to Covid-19.
Mulholland says that last weekend’s SpringFest preparations began last summer– and carried on through her all-day stint from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday. “It was a dream come true, honestly,” says Mulholland, who credits Director of LEAD and Orientation Sara Phillips as a massive help. “It was honestly kind of scary a little bit, nerve-wracking…but it was incredible to be able to bring [SpringFest] back.”
“I went on stage right before Y2K performed to give a couple of announcements, and you could just look at the crowd and see how happy everybody was…it meant a lot to me that everybody was enjoying it. I’m also a geek and I love the entire planning of it,” adds Mulholland, who hopes to pursue a career in event planning post-graduation.
“Our headliner was amazing, our artists– aside from performing, they were all just incredible people to work with…Y2K [Ari David Starace] came and had lunch with us at our staff meeting, and he was incredible,” she adds.
“Ari got off the stage and he looked at me and told me he will never perform like he did that night– he had the best time– and that meant a lot to me, ” says Mullholland, noting that SpringFest was Starace’s first live performance in several years.
Mulholland adds that Julia Wolf, the night’s second act, came to the Program Council and asked for some Western merchandise, going on stage in a Western-branded t-shirt, and sampling hats from the crowd during her performance.
Check out some photos from SpringFest 2022:
