Palousafest, an annual festival which has taken place at the University of Idaho for over 20 years, is still scheduled to take place this year, albeit some changes for safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Laurel Meyer, the events and marketing coordinator for the Department of Student Involvement (DSI), said masks and social distancing will be required. The number of booths and the number of people who can stand at each booth at a time will be limited as well.
Meyer said in past years, there have been as many as 220 vendors at the event. This year, DSI is limiting that number to roughly 100 vendors. Meyer said DSI is giving priority to university organizations and clubs which apply for a table, but the organization hasn’t needed to turn any vendors away yet.
Vendors will also be asked not to give away snacks or beverages to participants.
“We don’t want to ask people to wear masks, have people be giving away food and drinks and then the guests will have to take off their masks to eat that sort of stuff,” Meyer said.
DSI also plans to increase the amount of space Palousafest will take up in order to increase the space between vendor tables.
Alondra Ibarra, a member of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, originally said the organization’s booth would focus on safe interactive activities. Ibarra later stated LTA would not be tabling at the event, as the organization’s national leaders prefer for chapters to refrain from all in-person events for now. Before pulling out of the event, Ibarra said her main concern was having a low attendance at Palousafest.
“It (would have been) a good opportunity to see how this younger generation especially teams up and tries to aid in the stopping of the virus, the stopping of contamination and to watch the community get together and support each other,” Ibarra said.
Another of Ibarra’s concerns was the new restrictions placed on Palousafest, which would limit the ability of her sorority to meet young women who might be interested in the sorority.
“When I met the girls from LTA, they were really the only ones that helped me get my foot out there and helped me meet other people,” Ibarra said. “They were the ones that, on my birthday, showed up at my doorstep with a cake. I never thought I would be interested in a sorority, but even then they were just so good at making me feel comfortable with them.”
The president of the Women’s Soccer Club, Margaret Lewis, said she had similar concerns because of her club’s dwindling size and lack of consistent players.
Lewis said she plans on bringing a small goal to catch people’s attention and to talk with any girl she can as they walk past.
“I just hope that people can find a way to get to our booth and want to talk to us. But I’m not sure that’s going to happen, especially with (COVID-19),” Lewis said.
Anteia McCollum can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @antxiam5