By April DeJarlais

Showing blatant disregard to the lingering winter weather, Macalester students are already welcoming spring by planning Springfest 2009, to be held April 18 on Shaw Field.Organized by the Program Board, Springfest is a yearly tradition at Macalester. As in past years, the program will feature live music as the main attraction, along with a beer garden and a photo booth. Additional forms of entertainment under consideration are temporary tattoo booths and communal art projects, reminiscent of a past Springfest when a student donated a car to be painted by attendees.

Coordinators for this year’s program are Corbin Alyn-Browning Cavallero ’11 and Jennifer Chon ’09. It is their first year to be directly involved with Springfest, although Chon has previously worked with the Program Board.

Cavallero joined the Program Board solely to work on Springfest.

“I wanted to make things better with whatever experience I have,” he said.

His main objective is to improve promotions by creating nicer posters and advertising earlier.

Cavallero is also in charge of contacting bands. He says that while smaller local bands can be emailed directly, an agent may need to be contacted for larger acts.

With three opening bands and one headliner, the show this year is expected to be smaller than last year’s set of eight acts. The set must accommodate time limits, as the show must be over by 8 p.m. because of St. Paul noise ordinances.

The committee is in talks with bands and an announcement should come soon.

Food selections for past Springfests have been local Macalester fare, such as Shish and Italian Pie Shoppe. Chon has contacted the Midtown Global Market for food possibilities, to show support for local businesses.

Students are also invited to join the Springfest committee, which is looking for more people to organize and help out on the day of the program.

“We are really interested in student input,” Chon said.