Parties make Fling a success

The Spring Fling fairy tale came true this weekend, according to Fling Co-Director Gil Beverly, a Wharton junior. "This is the third Fling that I have been involved with and I've directed two of them, and this was far and away the best one," he said. Beverly attributed the event's success to good weather. "It was the first time in years it didn't rain," he said. But he added that Thursday's Penn Rocks for the Homeless concert helped set the tone for a blow-out weekend. "People partied really hard all four nights," he said. "It was clearly the biggest party weekend we've had this whole year." And success can also be measured by the amount of Fling souvenirs students bought. According to Beverly, 1,000 T-shirts, 300 neon necklaces, 250 to 300 lighters and 150 pairs of boxer shorts were sold. More than 5,200 tickets were sold for Sunday night's concert -- which featured the Roots, the Samples, Sonic Youth and Parliament Funkadelic. This was truly a fairy tale for College junior Mike Parker, the co-director of the concert committee of the Social Planning and Events Committee. "I think this will be a benchmark for all other shows," he said. "Because of the the smoothness with which it was run, the quality of all the acts, the performances of the acts, the attitude of the crowd and the size of the crowd." Although Beverly agreed that Sunday's concert was "unreal," he said the turnout for Saturday's carnival in Superblock failed to meet his expectations. In contrast to Saturday afternoon's sunshine, which lured droves of people to the Quadrangle, the evening's cold temperatures kept people away from the outdoor event, Beverly said. The "wind tunnel" in Superblock even forced the Karaoke booth to shut down for the whole carnival. To avoid similar problems next year, the Fling committee will try to relocate the carnival. Nevertheless, the 1,500 who did buy tickets to the carnival made the best of the DJ, as dancing Flingers filled the area in front of W.E.B. DuBois College House. Timing was another obstacle this year's Fling managed to overcome. While Fling usually takes place on Friday and Saturday, the Passover holiday moved the pre-finals celebration to Saturday and Sunday. Although the the Sunday night concert-goers danced with ceaseless energy, the pace was slow Sunday morning, Beverly said. "The second day of Fling had a real sluggish feeling," he said. "People were just partied out, hung over and just plain tired. Because of that, people didn't start turning up until two or three compared to the first day -- which was jam-packed." Next year, Fling will return to its usual schedule, Beverly added.

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