Carroll Hall will host their signature event, Lakeside Music Festival, Saturday at 2 p.m. to exhibit student bands and musical talents.
“Lakeside was started about five years ago, and its main aim is to better the music culture here at Notre Dame, because honestly in some aspects it’s pretty lacking,” junior Christian Cyrul, the commissioner in charge of the festival, said. “It’s just a fun time, a whole afternoon where people can enjoy music from student bands and also for student bands to get recognition.”
Unlike in previous years, this year’s Lakeside Music Fesitival was co-sponsored by the Student Union Board (SUB), which gave the event more funding to work with.
“SUB got involved with it through Christian Cyrul,” senior Bailey Kendall, a director of programming for SUB, said. “He presented us with this really cool opportunity to help fundraise for a good cause and also it fits with SUB’s mission really well.”
SUB, in general, looks to fund events that foster inclusivity across the student body, she said.
“There’s no cap on the capacity of people that can go to Lakeside, which was something that was really important to us,” Kendall said. “It’s an inclusive event, its free, anyone can go to it, so we co-sponsored it to add more cool things to it.”
Senior Bethany Boggess, executive director of SUB, said the collaboration was made possible in part because of extra money in the SUB budget.
“The reason we had the awesome opportunity to sponsor Lakeside this year is because we had sort of a transition year with CJF, the Collegiate Jazz Festival, where we were able to work out a collaboration with them for CJF,” Boggess said. “So we had some money left over in our budget.”
Boggess also said the co-sponsorship was a natural fit, especially given the similarities in purpose between CJF and Lakeside.
“What we wanted to do was to find a way to spend that extra money in a meaningful way that still kind of went to the heart of what CJF does for students [and] provides entertainment via music to students,” Boggess said. “That’s the same thing Lakeside accomplishes, as well, so it was kind of a natural sponsorship for us and a great way for us to add to an already amazing event.”
Cyrul said the additional funding has allowed the event to be more ambitious, with funds going toward food trucks, better-quality shirts and more advertising.
“Last year we had to kind of go to a bunch of different places to get funds and really didn’t have enough to have a lot of the free food we’re going to have this year,” Cyrul said. “So a lot of that funding is going toward the food trucks, and so those are going to be free for all students who come. We’ll have over 900 meals throughout the day.”
Cyrul said he also pushed for including more South Bend music culture in the event.
“This year, I’ve kind of expanded [the event] a little bit by trying to bridge the gap between South Bend and Notre Dame,” Cyrul said. “So we’re advertising a lot to the South Bend community, and we’re also inviting a couple of South Bend bands to come and perform as well.”
Cyrul said the event is made up of 12 acts. Performers range from single acts to duos and bands — some even including professors.
While the event is free to attend and open to all, one of Lakeside’s main goals is fundraising, mainly through the Lakeside shirts which will be sold at the event. All the proceeds go to the Boys and Girls Club in South Bend, Cyrul said.
Cyrul said the event’s relaxed nature is important to the overall Lakeside experience.
“The atmosphere going forward is not necessarily like a nighttime concert where everyone is focused on the stage but more of a chance to just gather with your friends, hang out in the sun and listen to some awesome music,” he said.
Carroll Hall to host Lakeside Music Festival
Courtesy of Dani Meersman
Students gather at the 2017 Lakeside Music Festival for an afternoon of entertainment, where all proceeds were donated to the Boys and Girls Club of South Bend.
