Devil Palooza brought sports, snacks, song and 20 tons of snow to the Student Recreation Complex field Friday for an event that invited students to come together for a day of interactive activities.
Hosted by the Programming and Activities Board and the SRC, Devil Palooza offered a variety of hands-on activities throughout the day, including a snowboarding rail competition and intramural sporting events, and ended with a concert by national acts Steel Train and Say Anything.
PAB President Leigh Recker said the goal of Devil Palooza was to bring students together by putting on an event with something for everyone, and to make it worthwhile for students to spend more time on campus.
“We realize [Tempe campus] is a commuter campus, so we’re trying to get people to come back [to campus], said Recker, a supply chain management junior. “With Devil Palooza, we tried to create an event that’s worth coming back to campus for.”
PAB Vice President and accounting senior Justin D’Amico said that he hoped the event would promote campus unity as well.
“We want to keep students on campus and give them something to do to be a part of ASU, instead of just going to class and going home,” D’Amico said.
The intramural games were open to anyone who registered prior to the event through the SRC, but the Rail Jam competition was only open to those serious about snow sports.
The Cricket Campus Rail Jam Tour is a traveling grassroots sports campaign that encourages amateur snowboarders and skiers to get noticed.
The Rail Jam Tour travels across the West Coast bringing a rail set up for snowboarders and skiers to showcase their skills in front of their classmates.
Patric Krabacher, an environmental management sophomore at NAU, traveled from Flagstaff to participate in the tour.
Competitors had to apply before the event and get approved by the tour staff, he said. Along with the application, participants had to send a video or photographs of their previous snowboarding experience to prove that they know how to board or ski, Krabacher said.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Krabacher said, who participated with the first heat of snowboarders.
“I had to try it,” he said. “You only live once.”
In addition to sporting events and the concert, there was a range of vendors giving handouts to event attendees, from Red Bull energy drinks to Whole Foods Market organic fruit.
Ciera Corwin, a nursing sophomore, said she enjoyed the event and would attend similar events if they were advertised like Devil Palooza was.
“It’s a really fun and different event,” Corwin said. “I love all the free stuff.”
Roommates Spencer Collinson and Stephen Firestone live off campus, but said the Devil Palooza event was enough to bring them back [to campus] on a Friday afternoon.
“[The event] is awesome for it being the ‘first annual’ Devil Palooza,” said Collinson, a graphic design sophomore. “I would love it if there were more interactive events like this.”
Firestone, a sustainability sophomore, agreed.
“I feel like this is what college events should be like,” he said.
Reach the reporter at abigail.gilmore@asu.edu.
