There were plenty of reasons to be out in the sun last Saturday. Social Board’s Spring Fest featured food trucks and inflatable rides on the lawn in front of Peirce Hall and the Crow’s Nest staged an outdoor production of As You Like It in the field beside the church. Meanwhile, out in front of Old Kenyon, the Kenyon radio station held its annual daytime concert event: WKCO Fest.

The event was well attended, with many people spreading out blankets on the grass or throwing frisbees in the shade. The concert featured performances by Kenyon student musicians and bands, including Anjelica Carroll ‘19, headstocks, Slvdgefvck, King Curtis, Orderbot, Three Beers Richers, Sawyer Hinton ’19, Humility Villa and Day Moon. About the band Slvdgefvck, Phoebe Killea ’19 said, “You can tell they’re having fun, that’s the main thing. That’s what this is about.”

WKCO Fest represents an opportunity for student bands to perform at Kenyon. Outside of the Horn Gallery’s single annual student showcase, most bands’ only chance to perform is as an opening act for visiting musicians. In addition to WKCO Fest, the College radio station has held two shows in Colburn this semester and is hoping to host another. “I’d say the goal of WKCO Fest is to showcase student talent because there’s so, so much of it,” said Andrew Perelman ’20, who worked as a sound technician for the event.As the project manager for WKCO Fest, Daniela Grande ’20 arranged the event herself without administrative help. This meant arranging the list of bands, bringing out the equipment and having sound technicians in place.

Working as a sound technician for an event like WKCO Fest is no easy task. Connecting and operating the amplifiers required some last-minute troubleshooting, which Perelman said was both exciting and stressful. “It’s fun that you don’t want to be having,” he said.

In addition to the music, the event also featured a pop-up store on Middle Path. Isak Davis ’20 and Ulysses Yarber ’21 set up a small thrift store in front of Hanna Residence Hall. All proceeds from the thrift store went to a church charity which donates money to Knox County residents in need. “Putting something like this up, you don’t know whether it’s going to be successful or not, and right away people were interested and perusing the racks,” Davis said. WKCO is hoping to encourage more students to come up with similar vendors at the event next year.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Andrew Perelman had graduated in 2018. Perelman is a member of the Class of 2020. The Collegian regrets this error.