Tie dye was the theme and covered Kellogg Circle from 6 to 9 p.m. on Wednesday as Emporia State channeled Woodstock with this year’s Flintstock event. The Paperclips opened for bands Antennas Up and John Henry and the Engine.

“We tried not to go on any avant-garde jam sessions or anything like we might have in Woodstock if that had been the case,” said Jake Briscoe, Paperclips’ guitarist.

Graduate adviser for the event Katie Moldenhauer said the nameFlintstock is a play on Woodstock, with Emporia State being in the Flint Hills. She said it’s an end of the year celebration that ESU has had for a long time and after not having it for a couple years, the Union Activities Council brought it back last year and it was a success.

“It’s a good opportunity just to enjoy yourself even if it’s just for five minutes, to get away from studying or finishing up projects or whatnot and it’s just completely free,” Moldenhauer said.

There were free corndogs, funnel cakes and popcorn as well as an inflatable obstacle course, inflatable slide and a graffiti wall for people to spray paint. Groups from around campus and businesses from the community including Airsoft Club, Greek Life and Midas Touch tanning salon had tables at the event. Senior Week had a table with a water balloon toss with a twist – water balloons filled with slime. Lacey Hansen, Senior Week chair said the slime went with the event’s theme “Nickin’ it Old School.”

“When I was asking around seeing what people really wanted to see with senior week and the Nickelodeon theme, kind of the resounding answer was slime, so that was kind of a lot of pressure,” Hansen said.

Seniors were given the chance to enter a raffle at the table and CDs and DVDs donated by CDTradepost were given to those whose names were drawn in between bands.

“Only seniors can get tickets and they can get tickets for participating in the slime activity and then get candy bars if they slime somebody,” Hansen said.

Moldenhauer said Ha Ha Tonka was originally supposed to play, but the band is currently touring, so UAC booked John Henry and the Engine instead. The Paperclips earned their opening slot by winning the Battle of the Bands in February. Moldenhauer said members of UAC went to a National Association for Campus Activities conference in Arlington, Texas, and saw Antennas Up play and decided that they would be a good band for Flintstock. The Paperclips and Antennas Up are both from Kansas City, Mo., and John Henry and the Engine is from St. Louis/ Columbia, Mo.

“We had all of UAC, the council and committee members vote on who we would like and that’s who won,” Moldenhauer said.

Briscoe said there was some trouble with wind and equipment for the bands; one had a cymbal fall and cut a microphone cable and various other pieces fell. Bassist Jason Richards said they were lucky none of the accidents happened with their stuff, but they did have to pay special attention to drummer Chris Evan’s set.

“We had to like rig up this like drum set inside of itself so everything interlocked like a Jenga puzzle,” Richards said.

Briscoe said that despite the wind, he felt good about the show. He said that if it hadn’t been in Emporia, people wouldn’t have come because of the weather, or they would have been too busy enjoying the corndogs and funnel cakes to listen.

“It feels great, we love being in Emporia. Coming to Emporia can’t be a bad time, you know what I mean. It’s a lot more inviting and responsive than a lot of towns,” Briscoe said.

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Jack Forck and Eric Murphy of Radio City perform Wednesday night during Flintstock in front of Plumb Hall. Radio City was one of three bands hosted by UAC during the event. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

Though this year’s Flintstock lacked mud, drugs and Jimi Hendrix, it certainly had one thing in common with its partial namesake and that’s music.

“It’s kind of like a big, end-of-the-year bash,” said Lauren Padgett, senior communication major and Union Activities Council president. “It’s just to help the nerves and stress of everybody and have a big party. It’s kind of a tradition. When it started off, people used to bring coolers of alcohol and food, so this kind of used to be a Woodstock thing.”

UAC hosted Flintstock last night on the lawn in front of Plumb Hall and the William Allen White Library. The Program to Improve Emporia, Environmental Club and Young Democrats and about 150 people and six dogs attended.

“We decided to go with a more home-grown effect for Flintstock this year,” said Lacee Hanson, sophomore communication major and UAC Live Music chair. “I think it’s been successful, I think people like it. Also, Radio City and The DeWayn Brothers play quite a few local shows, so they have a strong following, so we thought that would be good.”

Three bands performed on the main stage in front of Plumb Hall, lights above them and Corky behind them. The bands were Kids Can Dream, Radio City and The DeWayn Brothers.

“I think it’s just an easy way to get everybody involved,” said Megan Litchkowski, senior elementary education major. “When you advertise food, music and games, a lot of people are going to show up and be interested.”

UAC provided other activities like a beer goggle tricycle race, a blow-up obstacle course, a bungee-cord run and a dunk tank which allowed participants to dunk members of UAC and others, including next year’s ASG President, Jonathan Krueger, junior political science major.

“(It is) to bring people out, people in the community and obviously ESU students, and show them a good time at Emporia State,” Hanson said. “We kind of play off of ‘Woodstock’ with the name, so it’s obviously a music festival as well as everything else, the, ‘funtivities.’”

PIE brought several community organizations to the event like Green Living Emporia, Emporia Local Foods Network, The Green Door Recycling and the Sustainable Living Center at Flint Hills Technical College. The Environmental Club and Young Democrats also placed recycling bins next to trash cans to encourage recycling.

“We’re here to make sure that people have an opportunity to recycle so we can continue to reduce our waste on campus during this week,” said Jennifer Groves, library science graduate student and Environmental Club president. “We promoted it in our flyers, over BuzzIn announcements and at the table that we’ve had set up in the Union.”

Flintstock had been around since the 1960s, Padgett said, but lost popularity a few years ago because alcohol became prohibited at the event. UAC, which is also taking new committee members, has resurrected it this year.

“There are a lot of people here,” said Hailey Copeland, junior elementary education major. “It was a great turnout, so I think they did good and they did a really good job advertising it. I’ve seen a lot of posters out there. I think they did well.”

Jamie Briggeman of The DeWayn Brothers sings Wednesday night in front of Plumb Hall on the main stage for Flintstock. The DeWayn Brothers and two other bands performed for the event audience of about 150 people. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

Amy Delgado watches as her son, Roman Delgado, plays a ring toss game during Flintstock Wednesday night at the Kellogg Circle. Delgado and other members of the community were able to participate in a variety of games, including a dunk tank and a bungee-cord run. Kellen Jenkins/The Bulletin

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The Program to Improve Emporia will host a community meeting on Flintstock at 6 p.m. tonight at Pyramid Pizza on 6th Avenue.

Tonight’s meeting will focus on brainstorming methods to get the Emporia community involved at Flintstock, said Harrison George, junior sociology major and creator of the Program to Improve Emporia

“The goal will be to discover what we can do to attract community members to come to Flintstock,” George said. “All PIE meetings are open to everyone, student and community member alike. The more ideas, the better.”

Flintstock is Emporia State’s annual outdoor music festival. This year’s festival will go from 6-9 p.m. April 22 near Kellogg Circle, on the lawn between Plumb Hall and 12th Avenue. UAC and PIE are co-sponsoring the event.

Flintstock was once a popular annual spring tradition at ESU, with live music and various outdoor games and activities. However, the festival was not held in 2008 because of economic concerns, said Lacee Hanson, sophomore communication major and UAC live music chair.

George said he hopes that, through student involvement, Flintstock has the potential to increase in quality and participation.

“Flintstock has been kind of mediocre the last few years I’ve been here,” George said. “It’s very sad that the event has become less than what it was in the past… UAC and PIE are really interested in turning it back into the yearly program that it was.”

In the past, UAC has contracted nationally known bands like Better Than Ezra, Superdrag and Veruca Salt to perform at Flintstock.

Hanson said that three local bands, The DeWayn Brothers, Radio City and Kids Can Dream, have been contracted to play at this year’s event.

Aside from live music, Hanson said that UAC is also in the process of planning other outdoor activities for Flintstock, though little has been finalized yet. Promotional materials for Flintstock will become available as these plans are finalized, Hanson said.

George said that a block party is among the potential ideas for Flintstock that will be discussed at tonight’s meeting.

“One idea (for Flintstock) is to set up the event in the same vein as the block party that happens every August,” George said. “That would be a good way for local businesses to meet and greet with students.”

George said he encourages all students who are interested in discussing possibilities for student and community involvement during Flintstock to attend tonight’s meeting.

“I hope Flintstock will be a fun, easygoing event with lots of good music and a chance for community members and students to improve Emporia,” George said. “I hope that we can start to rebuild it into something that will bring people out and have a good time.”

For more information about the Program to Improve Emporia, students can join the group on Facebook or contact Harrison George at hgeorge@emporia.edu.

Ali Nashatizadeh/The Bulletin

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