Words by Sam Smargiassi, Photos by Sarah Northrop
 
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]rom sunshine and cotton candy to friends painting each other’s bodies to children laughing as they tumble down inflatables, and dogs in underwear, the first annual Emerald Fest was a success. Emery, the Emerald Media Group Mascot, even made his debut.
“We really wanted to expand Undie Run and make it kind of a bigger, day-long celebration,” says Emerald President Charlie Weaver. “We really wanted to highlight the different aspects of Emerald Media Group, showing that we are so much more than just a newspaper.”
The event was hosted in conjunction with the Undie Run, the one-mile long route around campus for which students donate the clothes off their backs and run in their underwear. This year marked the fourth Undie Run that Emerald Media Group has hosted.
“I’ve never stripped on campus, so that was fun,” says UO student, Chris Mooney. Mooney decided to participate in the Undie Run after his friend told him how much fun it was last year.
Following the Undie Run were live performances from Hindsight Hotel, DJ Coop and The Heads Up. The performances could not have felt more “college” — crowd members played hacky-sack as students played their instruments in their underwear. During The Heads Up’s “dredging blues” set, guitarist Alan Aslan hopped off the stage, ripping on his guitar in the crowd without once losing the lollipop in his mouth.
Emerald Media Group hopes to continue to have fun, end-of-the-year parties like this one for years to come.
“We are actually going to start planning next year starting tomorrow,” Weaver says. “Now that we have a full time Students Events Manager we really want to utilize that position to its fullest.”
 
 
 

Gallery • 4 Photos

Mateo Sundberg scoops up fresh popcorn for passersby at Emeraldfest’s Ethos Block Party.