With the leaves changing colors and the sun setting earlier, it can only mean one thing — the annual Bucknell Fall Festival is just around the corner.

On Saturday from 5–10 p.m. on Sojka Lawn, The CAP Center will host the annual Bucknell “Fall Fest” to celebrate the beginning of a new season, and the beginning of the new school year.

The event will include an abundance of activities and amenities that will transform this school from the rural Lewisburg, to a beautiful beach boardwalk, according to Brent Papson, director of Campus Activities and Student Media.

“The planning has been going well, and there is a lot of excitement for it,” Papson said. The CAP Center Core, the student programming board, has been hard at work for a while planning this year’s Fall Fest.

The organization works with an host of other student facilities agencies, such as the Student Lectureship and Concert Committee to plan large-scale events such as this one. According to the CAP Center Core, they predict around 1,500-2,000 students will partake in an evening of Fall Fun.

There will be “a full-blown carnival on campus with a ferris wheel, giant slide, and a bunch more rides and games such as a giant slide, tornado, round up, ping pong toss, basketball and balloon darts,” Papson said. “There are also 300 Fall Fest t-shirts ready to be tie-dyed.” 

Papson said there will be plenty of food for students as well. Snacks and meals, such as funnel cakes, deep fried Oreos, cotton candy, fried pickles, Bison dip and cactus tatters are all intended to be available for students. But, the food is limited so Papson wanted to remind students to get their early. 

There will also be music by Bucknell student performers. The student performers will be Beatboxing, Mayday, Juliana Capizzi, Ben Buentello, Violet Grimsley, Griffin Miller, Two Past Midnight, Unwritten and Katie Fonda.

The Fall Fest was resurrected last year after it was canceled in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because the event is outside, there are no requirements for students to wear a mask. 

The scheduled rain date will be held the night before, on Sept. 23. The decision will be made on Thursday on which night it will be held. 

“With the current forecast, it looks like it will be Saturday,” Papson said.

And while the planning is the job of the administration, the enjoyment is the job of the students. This year, there is a lot of anticipated enjoyment in the air. First-year Kyla Kelly, who has never been to an official carnival, is looking forward to her first official experience at Fall Fest. 

“I am excited and ecstatic to be able to go to a free carnival and spend time with my friends, tie-dye a shirt, and most importantly, not have to worry about school for a night,” Kelly said.

Timothy Goodrich ’26, loves carnivals and cannot wait to create yet another lasting memory of college filled with amusement and entertainment. 

“Everyone should go because carnivals are fun and awesome,” Goodrich said, “And I cannot wait to eat all the deep-fried Oreos”.

For more information about the Fall Fest, click here.