Senior and Orientation Leader David Mortin is familiar with zip lining.
He has scaled lines in the Snake River Canyon, as well as places in Oregon. Mortin added the Student Rec Center lawn to his list of zip line locations Saturday at the Department of Student Involvement’s annual Palousafest.
“This was the first thing I wanted to come do,” Mortin said.
Mortin’s friend and partner on the mobile dual zip line, rented from a company out of Seattle, then chimed in.
“He made us run over here when he saw it,” she said.
Without further ado, the pair climbed the large standalone contraption off of which they’d hurl themselves on the side-by-side lines, and waited for the man at the top to secure their harnesses for takeoff.
Meanwhile, a line began to form, made up of anxious freshmen and seniors alike. Beyond that line, a lawn and street filled with students were cheering on the Vandal Marching Band, collecting swag, jotting down their email addresses on sign-up sheets for organizations and even riding a mechanical bull.
Palousafest had officially begun.
All along Sixth Street, row upon row of generic folding tables were overtaken by the unique personalities of sports clubs, student organizations, local businesses and campus entities. Clad in a white Vandals baseball jersey and eagerly relaying facts about his team to interested passerby, junior Austin Anderson represented UI’s club baseball team as its vice president at Palousafest. Anderson said the club has only been active for three years.
“This kind of event has extreme value for our club,” Anderson said. “We get to meet guys face-to-face. It’s way more personal.”
He went on to admit that Palousafest is a good way to gauge how committed a prospective club baseball player might be. But most important, Anderson said that Palousafest helps spread the word that UI has a club baseball team that competes against the likes of the University of Montana, Gonzaga and other universities across Washington state.
“Most people aren’t even aware that we’re a club,” Anderson said. “This helps with spreading word-of-mouth, which helps a lot with recruiting.”
While Palousafest serves as recruitment for campus clubs and organizations looking to hook a few freshmen, they aren’t the only groups making cameos at the street fair.
UI Parking and Transportation Services graced Sixth Street Saturday, and not because they were recruiting students to join them.
Parking Information Specialist Robert Mitchell said that Transportation Services came to Palousafest for two main reasons. The first was to help students get parking permits.
Mitchell said that there were still a lot of people without parking permits by the time Saturday rolled around, and that he’d hate to have someone’s Monday ruined by a parking ticket.
“It’s a lot easier if they do it now,” Mitchell said. “My main goal is to save people time.”
Mitchell’s second goal was to educate people about alternative transportation UI offers students without cars. From Zipcars to the Vandal Access Shuttle, informative posters on Transportation Services’ table detailed all of the options and Mitchell was there to answer any questions.
“This is an awesome campus when you have no car,” he said.
Though Mitchell aimed to connect with students of all standings, Palousafest is largely advertised as an event to help new students — especially freshmen — get involved.
Freshman Jenna Mayer said when she finished her dinner at Bob’s and stepped outside to witness Palousafest for the first time, her first impression was that the event was “very large,” and then entered the madness to find some of that “free stuff” her Residence Assistant (RA) had told her about.
“I think this gives us a chance to mingle with our classmates a little better,” she said.
Over at the mechanical bull, freshman Anthony Nunez experienced the two-second ride of his life.
Mounted backward on the mechanism, Nunez lasted but a moment before he fell and lifted himself off the inflated mats to shout, “Pro status,” which prompted laughter from the crowd.
At that point, Nunez said he already explored the other booths and admitted he couldn’t remember how many clubs he’d given his email to during the street fair.
“More than five, at least,” he said. “There’s too many things, I can’t decide.”
Whether Nunez will master karate, light saber dueling, swing dancing or chess skills in his club experience at UI, he said he doesn’t know yet. But he does know why he came to college.
“This is my chance to do my own thing,” he said. “I get to start living my own life.”
Musician Cas Haley began playing as dusk approached, and the people previously milling around began to find places to sit and sway to the music on the Theophilus Tower lawn grass.
Back at the zip line, Mortin touched down and removed his helmet and harness.
“It was great. It was a really fun zip line,” he said.
Glancing back at the massive contraption one last time, he noted the uniqueness of the opportunities offered at Palousafest.
“(Zip lining) usually costs so much,” Mortin said. “I was surprised we’d have something like this here.”
Lyndsie Kiebert
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