The carnival will be held on Friday, Nov. 16, from 8 p.m. to midnight, and is free for undergraduate students. It will feature a variety of entertainment, games and food, as well as the newly released lineup of live music performances. This year’s expected attendance is 5,000 to 6,000 students, a significant increase from the 3,000 students who attended last year.
Last year, ASCE teamed up with members of the UCSD Founders’ Celebration to create Hullabaloo, after its predecessor, FallFest, was dismantled due to budget cuts. This year, Hullabaloo will be on the second day of the annual Founders’ Celebration, and both ASCE and members of Founders’ Celebration encourage students to attend. To promote this partnership, Founders’ Celebration is hosting a “We Inspire” video contest; winners will receive $200 to The Loft, two tickets to Wiz Khalifa’s concert on Nov. 14, and an opportunity to showcase their videos at Hullabaloo.
“Founders’ Celebration has aptly selected this year’s theme as ‘We Inspire,’” ASCE Festivals Director Andrea Hsueh wrote in an email. “Consequently, this year, our festivals team has chosen the tagline, ‘We Eat. We Play. We Dance,’ to express how our students choose to celebrate the inspiration we derive from campus. Hullabaloo is about an entire experience.”
ASCE acquired the funding to host Hullabaloo through undergraduate student fees and various sponsorships; after reallocating funds within the department, ASCE increased its festival budget from last year’s $62,500 to $65,000 this year.
Hullabaloo will take place at Town Square and Matthews Quad and will host a range of activity booths and amusement rides. The activity booths will be manned by student organizations and will feature games and activities such as face painting, arts and crafts, fortune telling and mini basketball. Organizations have until Friday, Oct. 26, to submit their activity booth applications. Amusement rides include the “Zipper,” a Ferris wheel with free-flipping cars, the “Kamikaze,” a pendulum ride, “Human Bowling,” and the “Bungee Run.” Hullabaloo will also feature four San Diego food trucks: Super Q, The Dog Shack, Flippin’ Pizza and Devilicious.
“The success of Hullabaloo relies largely upon student input, particularly when it comes to activity booths,” Hsueh said. “Last year, we were really impressed with the quality of our booths, and it was a great way to have students actively contribute to the festival.”
Attendees can expect a balanced lineup of musical guests at Hullabaloo, a contrast to last year’s performances that centered on electronic music. Hip-hop DJ Chris Cutz and hip-hop rapper XV will open for The M Machine, an electronic music trio who has performed at both the Electric Daisy Carnival and the Global Dance Festival and has opened for Empire of the Sun, Miike Snow and Pretty Lights.
“My team and I have been working since last May to ensure there is something for everyone at Hullabaloo,” Hsueh said. “And as we draw nearer toward Nov. 16, I cannot wait to see how our efforts pay off.”
