By Jessica Stamp
Homecoming celebrations took place Oct. 13 with Fall Fire Fest from Penguin Productions. Students warmed up next to a bonfire, drank cider, listened to live music and enjoyed student organization activities.
Nicholas Ciapala, fifth-year social work and first-year nursing major, is a part of the talent and hospitality team for Penguin Productions. Ciapala’s job was to collaborate with the artists performing at Fall Fire Fest and prepare them for the stage.
“It’s always nice to meet the artists the day of. Because when you’re coordinating with them, you’re going through emails and other text communications,” Ciapala said. “Everyone is very cordial and sweet but you don’t get the personalities until you meet them in person.”
Ciapala said this year’s Fall Fire Fest was easier to plan and put together than previous years.
“It was super smooth, considering Federal Frenzy is a literal frenzy just to plan … it’s fun and it’s definitely worth the time and effort but compared to Federal Frenzy, [Fall Fire Fest] was a nice little cakewalk,” Ciapala said.
One moment that stuck out to Ciapala was after the event ended and Penguin Productions was cleaning up, Ciapala noticed a whiteboard from one of the student organization activities. It said “Something that makes me happy is” and was filled with student’s responses.
“It was filled with nice little quotes from people,” Ciapala said. “I think Penguin positivity was one … I thought that was cute.”
Students listened to performer Riley Burke sing for 45 minutes, which included her recently-released single, “MTV”.
“It was such a great crowd which is always hard to get people to come out and hear original music but the energy was really great,” Burke said.
Burke also said it was nice to work with Penguin Productions because of how welcoming they were to the band.
Homecoming activities continued until Oct. 15, when Youngstown State University faced Indiana State University. Students watched as the Homecoming parade marched on 5th Avenue. Student organizations had floats and trailers to represent individual’s programs and several threw candles to the crowd.
During the game’s halftime-show, Austin Angus and Oluwatumininu “Tumi” Adeeko were crowned Homecoming king and queen at Stambaugh Stadium to cap off the homecoming week festivities.
Editor’s note: Riley Burke is related to Jambar staff writer Molly Burke. Molly Burke is not an acting editorial board member and does not participate in the editorial process.