CSUN Hosts First-Ever Sol Fest

  • Audience watches guitarist at Sol Fest.

    Sol Fest was primarily a music festival featuring local bands including FOXTRAX, Swells, Sad Park and Vista Kicks. Photo by Patricia Carrillo.

  • Two people hugging at Sol Fest.

    California State University, Norhtridge's Associated Students invited the community to the first-ever Sol Fest on April 7. Approximately 750 students, faculty, staff and community members came together to enjoy local food, art and music. Photo by Patricia Carrillo.

  • Two people playing oversized Jenga at Sol Fest.

    Attendees of the festival were able to play over-sized games on the lawn at Matador Square. Photo by Patricia Carrillo.

  • Two people playing oversized Connect Four at Sol Fest.

    Attendees of the festival were able to play over-sized games on the lawn at Matador Square. Photo by Patricia Carrillo.

  • A vendor putting her thumbs up with yerba mate in front of her.

    One of the Sol Fest vendors provided attendees with free yerba mates. Photo by Patricia Carrillo.

  • People waiting in line to order at a taco truck.

    Food vendors included Fries N More, Dulce Europa and Epic Tacos (photographed here). Photo by Patricia Carrillo.

  • A group of friends sitting on the grass at Sol Fest.

    Associated Students plans on making Sol Fest a yearly tradition for the CSUN community and hopes to expand the event in 2019. Photo by Patricia Carrillo.

California State University, Northridge’s Associated Students (AS) welcomed approximately 750 students, faculty, staff and community members to the first-ever Sol Fest — a celebration of local music, art and food — on April 7.

The goal of Sol Fest was to “bring a multi-stage music festival-style event to campus that featured a variety of music genres, [that is] free to students and the community to attend,” said Kira Paczkowski, program advisor for AS Productions.

The event accomplished this goal, said Encino resident Donna Rosenberg.

“A friend of mine goes to CSUN and invited me to Sol Fest earlier this week,” Rosenberg said. “At first, I was skeptical because I was like, ‘I don’t go to CSUN. Won’t I feel left out?’ But once we got here, I fit right in and I really liked that.”

The festival featured local food trucks, including Epic Tacos, Dulce Europa Shaved Ice and Fries N More, as well as local art by CSUN students.

The main attraction, however, was the bands. In order to accommodate more performances, Sol Fest featured two stages: the Sol Stage and the Luna Stage.

Sol Stage performances included bands such as Mesophyll, Ariel View and FOTRAX, while bands such as Spookydelics, The Cozzmos and Beachwood Coyotes performed on the Luna Stage.

Communication studies senior Yaniv Raymond said that he was pleasantly surprised by the bands’ performances.

“I didn’t know what to expect going in, because they were local bands and I hadn’t heard of any of them,” Raymond said. “But they were all pretty good, especially Ariel View. I thought it was really cool that their band members were all women because we don’t see that often.”

AS plans to make Sol Fest a production staple and will be hosting the event next year, Paczkowski said.

“We are planning on Sol Fest 2019! [The] future direction for Sol Fest is to gain club and [organization] participation, and find more ways for students to get involved — whether that is through music, art, volunteering or tabling,” she said. “These campus events give our students tangible experiences in the music industry field that they can take with them when they graduate.”

Ultimately, Paczkowski added, the goal of AS is to make Sol Fest “a tradition on campus that students and the community look forward to each spring.”

For more information on AS Productions, please visit https://www.csun.edu/as/productions.

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