Editorials | Opinion

Editorial

A swan song for Bumstock

Posted on April 24, 2006, at 12:00 a.m.

This weekend marked the end of a 34-year era as State Radio played the final song at the last Bumstock ever. Despite the band’s pleas that Bumstock live on, it will come as a surprise if Student Entertainment plans another spring festival to replace it. Considering the many setbacks Bumstock planners faced this year – trouble getting a headliner due to scheduling, limitations in finding a venue and the cancellation of two bands at the last minute – it seems like the curtain call on the once-treasured UMaine tradition was inevitable.

So what went wrong?

Over the years, university regulations and restrictions on the festival have reduced it to the point where it became unfeasible to continue. Though the beer may have been missing from Bumstock for years and years, the spirit of Bumstock has been chipped away slowly. The age restrictions. The reduction of the duration to one day. Invasive required pat-down searches. Overabundance of security, just to name a few.

This year was the worst of all, as the control of the event was handed over to the university so that it would be covered by UMaine’s insurance policy. While this measure was taken in order to save money, it only served to make the event all the less enjoyable.

This year, non-students were only welcome in the company of a UMaine student, and Bumstock planners were prohibited from advertising the event off-campus. Security at the event – over 25 hired security officials and at least 10 UMaine police officers – was grossly disproportionate to the number of attendees. Catering and vendors were ruled out as a possibility. Even our campus radio station, WMEB – which had been a large presence at the event in years past – was not permitted a table at the event due to fire codes.

Only four years ago, UMaine took No. 1 of the Princeton Review College Rankings for “More to Do on Campus.” This year, UMaine was absent from the 20-strong list. If officials want to entice students to the campus, then they should be more willing to work with students to make events like Bumstock possible.

Campus Currents: Bumstock