Excitement and thrills are in full swing as the fall semester starts with a new era of the Recreational Fest. This event, which was formerly known as Sun Fest, begins the launch of a newly found tradition for the Rec Center. Rec Fest has its own celebratory night, which brings in a large turnout of guests and students. 

300 iPod armbands were given out in the first hour according to Mo Phillips, Associate Director of Student Development at Sonoma State University. The Rec Center team wished to move away from the Sun Fest name in order to gain attention throughout the student body as a recreational college campus event. They wanted to show that there are many ways to get active for students who normally do not have time for it in their schedules. 

There were six activities the students could chose from including rock climbing, sumo wrestling, human bowling, melt down, dual latter and bubble ball soccer. This event was more than just a time for activities, rather a bonding for students to come together as a community and get to know each other.

The Rec Fest team was delighted for the turn out they had, and feel they got the message across to the student body about the many ways to get active at the Rec Center. “Part of the activities you see today are the sumo, the bubble ball, human bowling, melt down, are showing folks that were trying to do more things that are recreational, more active, by using activities that are normally not offered in this space,” said Phillips. Rec Fest was promoting all the great programs it has to offer. “Rec Fest was more of a recreational thing, last year no one knew what Sun Fest was, so we wanted to change it up,” said Eddie Espejo, one of the leaders of Rec Fest. “We wanted to show students what the Rec Center has to offer with in motion classes, intramural and adventure classes. Espejo was pleased with the turnout this year as well. “There are a lot of students here, many new faces enjoying what the Rec Center has to offer,” he said.

Freshman student Hayley Conoway struggled with the dual latter challengeand as she fell over, her friends watched in a polite laughter. “I love [Rec Fest]. It is super fun, I love how they have these games. It gets everyone involved and they have fun. It’s just a great way to start the new school year.” 

In front of Rec Fest was a huge human bowling alley setup with life size bowling pins and bowling ball. As one student gets into the caged metal bowling ball, his partner must push him as he rolls into the pins. 

Freshmen Max Montoya said,“It was a lot of fun, it hurts just a little bit, it was slightly uncomfortable, but I would do it again.” 

The most talked about activity was Meltdown. As students went into a huge inflatable pit, a propelled log would come around and knock over the participants. 

This gained viewer attention as the crowd gathered around this activity to watch the students jump over the propelled log to see if anyone was able to stay on their feet. 

With a new year brings change and Rec fest’s new title gives students a taste of the active lifestyle that can be experienced all year long. By the Rec team having these special activities, it brought the student body together in an interactive way.