The Saint Mary’s Student Activities Board is on the road to success with their United States travel themed Tostal celebration Friday. Student Activities Board (SAB) President Emma English said the theme comes in part from inviting The Mowgli’s to play at the event.
“We were kind of thinking about all the states [The Mowgli’s] had [traveled] to get here,” English said. “A lot of our theme has to do with the fact that Saint Mary’s is our home and the Avenue brings you home.”
Junior SAB Vice President Lily Freund said the event will kick off early in the afternoon with lots of activities.
“This year we will have a pre-fest starting at 4 [p.m.] on Alumni Green, and we’ll have a giant slide, tons of food,” she said.
The event will feature a wide variety of foods English said.
“Our food will be themed around the country,” she said. “So we have Chicago hotdogs, Philly pretzels, Hawaiian ice … and we have Wafflehouse waffles.”
English said other activities at the pre-fest will include crafts, a DJ and a photo booth that students can pick the image of the background.
“We are gonna have these really cool crafts, were we have the state of Indiana carved out in wood and people can paint on them, maybe draw a heart or a French cross over the city of South Bend.” English said. “We have a really cool photo booth that you can pick the background and be like ‘I’m in Paris with my friends.’”
Give-aways at the event will include t-shirts given at the concert, mini hair brushes and luggage tags, English said.
“We have cute little luggage tags to go along with our travel theme,” she said. “We have really awesome shirts that we’re very excited about for the concert. It’s a postcard of Saint Mary’s College.”
At 8 p.m. the annual concert will be held, featuring PUBLIC as the opening act with The Mowgli’s performing at 9 p.m. English said the artists were chosen because they appeal to fans of all music genres.
“Both of [the bands’] styles are things that people can relate to no matter what genre of music they prefer,” English said. “So I feel like a lot of country people might like them, but also people who aren’t full out country people will totally like their pop-rock, alternative sound.”
The Mowgli’s were also chosen because of their songs about travel and other U.S. towns, English said.
“One of their main songs is ‘San Francisco,’ that’s a big song people know from them,” English said. “They have over [a] million followers on Spotify. They have two main songs, one of them has been on the radio before. It’s called ‘I’m Good.’”
SAB has brought other up and coming acts in the past including Sean Kingston and Colbie Callait, English said.
“Last year we had Drake White and The Big Fire and Chase Bryant and they’re huge county stars now,” she said.
Freund said she hopes the event is a huge success.
“We’re really excited and we want a lot of people to come,” Freund said.
