On August 20th at seven-thirty PM., Millikin put on its annual Millipalooza in the Quad. But, it wasn’t a typical Millipalooza. The sky was overcast with dark, angry clouds. The air was thick and still. In the distance, rain poured heavily and the sky was hot with lighting. As an outdoor event, students began to doubt whether this Millipalooza would still go on. Students ran to the quad before seven to get tie-dyed shirts, but they still got wet. It wasn’t the rain that got them–it was the sprinklers. Without warning, the sprinklers lining the quad shot off and covered everyone.

Senior UCB board member Lauren Rhodes admitted that “as being on the UCB side, putting this on, it was kinda like, ‘Oh, crap, this is going to be a wet Millipalooza!” You can say that again. But, a lot of students weren’t even fazed by the sprinklers.“The people just kinda congregated towards the music and people obviously took out umbrellas and they just kept going,” Rhodes said.These students came to have a good time, and they kept a smile on their faces and enjoyed the ride. One person who didn’t let the sprinklers stop him was freshman John Sauer.

When asked what he thought of the unexpected splash, he said his first thought was, “We’re in for a fun party!” and even said “it was exciting.” That’s the spirit. The positive attitude the students held at Millipalooza is a beautiful representation of how a lot of the students here at Millikin are. An organization like UCB provides students from freshmen to seniors to contribute to their school and really bring the student body together. UCB puts this event on every year in the hopes of achieving that, with activities like t-shirt tie-dying, body painting, and glow-in-the-dark water pong. Undoubtedly, the crowd favorite had to be the t-shirts. “I made a shirt right away–I love tie-dye shirts,” Sauer said.

Unfortunately, the t-shirts were gone faster than some people could get them. Perhaps next time, there could be more shirts provided. Aside from activities, there was also a video showing on the wall of Pilling Chapel and live music from a group of Millikin musicians Andre Kely, Hannah Lieb, Nick Gaines, Kyle Johnson, Nick Scarpinato, Trevor Stout, Nic Sanders, and Jason Allen.  The music was a cool fusion of jazz and rock. Lead singer Nick Gaines had a strong, gritty sound that truly rocked the event. After the sprinklers went off, almost everyone congregated around the band, dancing and nodding their heads. Meanwhile, the sky grew darker. The juxtaposition of the storm and the fun may have been what brought the Millikin community even closer.

“My favorite part was everyone was so connected, just jamming out all to one thing,” Sauer said. This was an event that gave students from all different walks of life something to do on the weekend; it brought together people who may not have otherwise talked to each other if it weren’t for tie-dying, water pong, body painting, and live music. “Millikin really does care about us,” Rhodes said.