While some may think that attending school in a rural setting may have limited options for nightlife, Uptown is aiming to prove them wrong.

It seems that attracting a record-breaking crowd of 250 people in five hours to its Cabin Fever Pub Night earlier this semester was only the beginning of Uptown’s increasing success. Over the past year, Uptown has truly become a larger part of the University’s night life under the lead of Michael Duignan, Director of Campus Activities and Programs.

“Really, [Duignan] has brought to Uptown a very can-do attitude and has instilled a sense of motivation into our employees. I think that’s something that Uptown really needed: a fearless leader but also someone at the administration level who has the desire to see Uptown succeed, do better, and bring in the crowds it deserves,” Uptown’s Assistant Technical Director, Joe Duvall ’16, said in regards to Duignan’s impressive leadership. 

As an on-campus venue available solely for the use of University students and their guests, Uptown is now open three times a week with various themed events. When Uptown is not hosting fun events such as Jazz Night or poetry slams, it hosts “Open Thursdays” which offer students a place to catch up on work, relax with some pool, and entertain themselves with a massive karaoke selection. These nights have proved to be largely successful over the past year, leading to a sizable increase in foot traffic through Uptown.

“Uptown has seen an increase in numbers. We doubled our numbers for many of the events from Fall 2013 to Spring 2014 and have almost doubled our numbers from Spring 2014 into this whole academic year,” General Manager of Uptown Greta Savickaite ’15 said.

In previous years, Uptown has boasted such famous names as Good Charlotte and Fall Out Boy, and plans to continue to bring more musical guests, in addition to more students.