By Annie Lewine

Springfest, Macalester’s annual celebration of returning warmer temperatures, will be moved from its usual spot on Shaw Field to the baseball field this year. The program board decided Sunday on the new location for the event, which will take place on April 21.
The move from Shaw Field is one of the many changes being introduced in this year’s Springfest, said Program Board committee member David Johnson-Igra ’07.
“One of the activities we are planning is a kickball tournament – because it’s on a baseball field,” he said. “We’re also going to try to add a cultural show.”

In addition to these activities, the Program Board intends to spend its money differently in terms of hiring bands. In the past, Springfest has included a number of lesser-known local groups, mostly due to a limited budget, Johnson-Igra said. Though this year’s budget for Springfest is still unknown, Johnson-Igra said that it would be a little more than last year’s $23,000.
“This year we’re going to concentrate our money on two quality acts—one rock act and one rap act—instead of spreading the money out on several different acts,” he said. “Maybe we’ll have a battle of the bands beforehand.”

Chris Schodt ’09 said he appoved the new approach to Springfest. “I think it’d be really great to get a really big name band to come this year. I mean it’s been a while since Macalester had anyone really big here.”

Before Sunday’s decision, Springfest was scheduled to happen indoors.
“We were thinking of moving it into the Campus Center or Kagin,” Johnson-Igra said. “But because traditionally, Springfest is outside, we wanted to find a way to avoid moving it indoors.”