The carnival’s back in town!

Over the past weekend Blue and Gold Week started, and of course, there was a carnival just like last year. However, instead of a comedy show, the entertainment division of ERAU (called Touch-N-Go) decided to host a music festival called Eaglepalooza. It featured four national artists , Social House, Chase Bryant, and Desiigner) and three local bands (DJ Hot Fiya, SPF 50, and Paper Doors) and took place simultaneously with the carnival.

The carnival started at 2 PM, but I ended up getting there around 3. The disadvantage of going to the carnival during the daytime is that it was extremely hot. They had a couple of different rides than last year, so I went on the new ones before heading inside for a Starbucks.

After that, I decided to go see Social House playing on the main stage. I sat in the shade of the fitness center, which is where most people were, but a few dedicated people chose to be up front near the stage. I was relaxed enough in the shade, but eventually got hungry and went back to my apartment for dinner.

I came back to the concert around 7:15 just in time for the final local act, Paper Doors, to perform on the second stage. By then the day had cooled off and the sun was setting, so a lot more people had come out to watch. Paper Doors is also a pretty popular band- they’ve played various shows around Daytona and the surrounding area- and the turnout is usually good.

I was close to the front and noticed that a few people had decided to watch from the Starbucks balcony. It was much less crowded than the area in front of the stage, but still cool to see. Paper Doors played for almost an hour and did a song with another local artist, Ani, and everyone was having a great time.

After that, there was a 15-minute break before people piled in to go watch the final concert of the night, Desiigner. It was definitely an experience- there were rows and rows of people, and to me it looked like the most popular concert.

When Desiigner came on, his microphone was turned down a little too low, so people were yelling and trying to tell him that we couldn’t hear. There were some people around me who were holding up their phones with a sign, but it ended up being backwards and saying “hear can’t we” instead of “we can’t hear.” Eventually word reached the front of the stage (where I assume everyone could hear perfectly well) and the volume was cranked up.

The concert was super fun but really loud, so I was glad that I brought earplugs. I could feel the sound from the giant speakers and can only imagine what people directly under the speakers were feeling. I love the events that Touch-N-Go puts on and I’m excited to see what will happen next. In the meantime, I’ll see you in the next post… and hopefully at Riddle!

Side note: Carnival first, eat dinner second.

So, Blue and Gold Week is off to a pretty good start here at ERAU! For those who don’t know, Blue and Gold Week is basically our spirit week. It has fun events every day for a week straight, and they’re all free for students to attend!

The first main event was Saturday night, which was the comedy show, but I was more excited for Sunday’s event: the carnival. Touch-N-Go Productions, the entertainment division of the Student Government Association, hosted both the carnival and the comedy show. It had some pretty good rides, similar to those you’d find at a county fair.

I didn’t go alone- I brought my best friend Chris (who also passed his commercial checkride this weekend!). The carnival ran for six hours, from 3 PM to 9 PM, but in my experience, events like these are the prettiest at night when everything is lit up. We arrived right as the 6:45 PM Delta (an A321) was about to take off. I guess the comedians were right when they made a joke saying that Riddle students use the flight schedule to tell what time it is.

The carnival was like your standard fair carnival, and I definitely enjoyed it. We arrived at what I’d like to think is a perfect time- the sun was setting, so it wasn’t dark, but you could still see the lights on the ride. The first one we rode was the spinning ride where everyone ended up pinned against their seat.

I thought it was super fun, and a few people ended up singing on it. We sang All Star and YMCA, which are two timeless classics. I ended up riding it twice before moving on, and I heard a few people singing I Want It That Way as I left. From there, I ended up in a few more lines.

As with any carnival, they had games that you could play to win prizes. However, all of the tries were free, and you could win free ERAU merch! I unfortunately didn’t end up winning anything, but I know a few of my friends took things home at the end of the night.

After playing the games, I ended up going to ride the vertical spinning ride. While the first ride I rode depended on a horizontal rotation, the second ride was more of a vertical rotation, and your height relative to the ground changed. It was pretty cool- at the top, you could see the runway.

It was, in my opinion, pretty cool. Rotational motion is a concept that you’ll see in class, but the carnival showed me a few applications for it. It’s a good reminder that when something seems pointless, you might end up using it in the future.

I rode the vertical spinning ride a few times before making my way over to the swings. As with any good carnival, there was a little swing ride, and I had fun going in circles and watching the carnival fly by. By that time, it was growing closer to 9- the carnival’s end- and I was ready to head back.

However, they also had a bungee cord trampoline thing, which is something I’ve always wanted to try. It was actually really fun, but harder than I expected. You constantly needed to jump to keep going up and down, and that could get a little hard when you just did a backflip. (Yes, I did several backflips- they were awesome!) However, you could always build up momentum and then get to the big jumps.

The carnival was super fun, and I hope that there’s another one during next year’s Blue and Gold Week. I’ve enjoyed the Blue and Gold events so far, and I look forward to the rest of the semester. It’ll be exciting! Preview Day is approaching, and maybe I’ll see you in the next post, or I’ll see you at Preview Day!