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Reporter
Puppies, food trucks and live music are taking over Fifth Street this weekend for a campus-wide Homecoming celebration.
Feel Good Fest, an afternoon of fun activities, will feature Judah and the Lion, a Nashville based bluegrass folk band that has seen an increased fanbase in the previous year.
The event is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday in the Sub Bowl, and is free to attend.
According to a Baylor press release, Judah and the Lion are performing during the Homecoming Parade in addition to headlining the Feel Good Fest. Many artists from Uproar Records, a music production company centered on Baylor students and graduates, will also perform.
The event is a collaboration between Uproar Records and Student Activites.
Waco senior Trannie Stevens, who has been writing music since she was five, is set to sing alongside Austin senior Luke Hicks, a folk singer who began playing music in high school. Houston senior Ryan Thomas, a Christian rapper who goes by the name T-Ryan, and Before ’94, a trio of Baylor alumni including Michael Fanning, Jonah Erbe and Andy Gauer are also on the performance docket.
“We’re extremely excited to incorporate this into Homecoming Weekend,” said Tomball senior Zach Heefner, the event’s manager. “It’s going to blend well now that we have our stadium on campus. We hope this will become a regular homecoming tradition.”
Heefner said the event would be like a Dia del Oso celebration in the fall. This is possibly because of the of proximity campus to this weekend’s game and parade, he said.
“It’s a perfect interval for getting ready for the game and calming down from the parade,” Heefner said.
Also at the event will be a unique way for students, many of who are just coming off midterms and an incredibly busy homecoming week, to unwind. Heefner, Stevens and team are bringing in a puppy petting zoo for attendees of the event to interact with.
“Generally, this is a very stressful time,” Heefner said. “We want people to relax and actually experience the best time of the semester.”
Heefner said the event was the dream child of Stevens and will sit perfectly in the middle of all this weekend’s events.
Stevens said the event is scheduled to begin with a performance by Judah and the Lion, so that attendees can experience the rest of the homecoming traditions on campus. Since this is the first taste of Baylor many visitors will get, and the homecoming for the largest freshman class in Baylor history, Uproar wants to help contribute to the glory of what this weekend represents, not hoard visitors.
“I think there will definitely be a couple 1000 people at the event,” Stevens said. “There’s going to be thousands of people on Fifth Street. It’s going to be a pretty exciting break in between the parade and the game. We’ll probably see 4,000 or 5,000 people at our events, ideally.”
Uproar partnered with Baylor Venue and Event Marketing, according to the university press release, to coordinate for food trucks, many of which are normally downtown, to be on campus at the time of the concert.
