You’ve seen them — the hordes of runners, bikers and surfers that have given San Diego its reputation as one of the most health-conscious counties in America. There’s no doubt that the active San Diego lifestyle promotes healthy living. This year’s second annual Good Life Festival put on by The Zone’s Health, Recreation and Well-being Program shows that UCSD has all of the resources available on campus for students to make their college years healthy.
As the last set of this year’s midterms begin to creep up — getting out of Geisel becomes imperative for one’s mental and physical state. The Good Life Festival is a way to get out on Thursday, May 2 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for some good, clean on-campus fun. The festival was intended to be a one-time event, but due to outstanding attendance last year, the festival is back in hopes of making it an annual event. The Zone’s Program Coordinator, Iris Crowe-Lerma worked this year to get participation from outside food vendors.
“We learned to plan for more attendees than we expect! Last year, we planned for 1,000 attendees and were pleasantly surprised to see more than 1,600 attend, which made for long lines and short supply of food. This year we will have twice as much food, more activities and will be redesigning the layout to accommodate even more attendees,” Crowe-Lerma said.
Some of the activities at the event to look forward to include live Zumba, a climbing wall, inflatable pillow fighting and jousting, chair massages and human hamster balls in a pool.
“We tried to incorporate different activities hoping that this festival will encourage students to engage in healthy practices and take advantage of on-campus wellness resources,” Crowe-Lerma said.
If you would rather relax and not partake in physical activities, hang out and listen to music from DJ Harry Bui. Take a walk around the booths, and pick up some free samples, check out the arts and crafts booth to get a free henna tattoo. There will also be food tickets available for $1, which buys you a Jersey Mike’s sub sandwich and a Calbi’s taco.
The event takes place at Town Square near Price Center and Matthews Quad, right off Library Walk. Wristbands for the event will be available at noon on the day of the event at the entrance of Town Square. All of the event activities are free with a wristband. Expect a big and vibrant crowd, loud music and lots of giveaways.