Editorial : MayFest in Walnut Park has potential to become long-term spring tradition

On April 29, Student Association and University Union will host the second Syracuse University-sanctioned MayFest celebration, including free beer for those of age and free food and entertainment in Walnut Park.

Although partying is bound to return on Euclid Avenue this year, the continuation and improvements to the Walnut celebration show the university’s willingness to support a spring celebration for students, given it can monitor students’ safety.

In fall 2009, many students expressed shock when the university reinstated classes on SU Showcase, a day off formally known as MayFest, which students turned into a day for a massive Euclid block party. And though the memory of the Euclid party remains a source of resentment for some upperclassmen, the university-sanctioned party on Walnut has the potential to become a new ­— albeit tamer — student tradition.

SA responded to student feedback — namely the need for guest passes to the event. This important change will allow the hundreds of friends in town for Block Party to share the day alongside their SU cohorts, and will provide more incentive for students to at least split their time between Walnut and Euclid.

As the memory of MayFest as a Euclid party fades with each graduating class, the university should seriously consider giving the full day of MayFest back to students as a spring weekend, with canceled Friday classes. As this past weekend reaffirmed, SU students, who spend the majority of their spring semester cloistered inside or trekking through ice and snow, are genuinely thrilled when temperatures creep up in the final weeks of the semester. SU should offer a day, as hundreds of other universities in far more manageable climates do, that welcomes the beautiful weather.