The sun has set on another successful Fall Fest, SAMU’s annual welcome-back bash

Evan Watt

Photos by Amanda Erickson

Here we are. The first month of another year at MacEwan University has come to a close. Classes have been dropped, textbooks have been legally purchased for full price, and another Fall Fest has come and gone. 

There is something so uniquely MacEwan about Fall Fest. While the typical welcome week at a university consists of free merchandise and club fairs, SAMU highlights the first week of classes by encouraging students to get super wasted in the courtyard and then get on a bus and get even more wasted at an after-party on Whyte. And don’t try to tell me that getting wasted isn’t the sole purpose. Literally every tent there was branded with a beer or a bar. They were selling Cutwater, man. If you can say one thing about SAMU, you can say this: they understand the primary goals of their students. Hope you enjoyed your pancake breakfast, U of A.

There was plenty to do at Fall Fest this year. You could spin a wheel to win stuff, which was cool until they ran out of everything except the wheel and some Captain Morgan sunglasses. But hey, free is free. “Getting free stuff” was not an uncommon answer when I asked attendees what their favourite parts of the event were. On the other hand, you could also spend $8 on a hot dog, which I did. Twice.  You could get a tattoo in a trailer, which generally sounds like something you should try to avoid, but I did it. Once. And so far the little T. Rex on my elbow is healing fine. There was ice cream, SAMU merch tents, and free haircuts from our friends at MC College across the street from where Fall Fest is held. The real pull of Fall Fest, of course, is the music lineup.

Fall Fest kicked off this year as it usually does: with a performance by last year’s Battle of the Bands winner. This year, it was Blood Pressure, who are all in all just a cool band made up of cool people who make some cool-ass music. Tom Shenher, the lead singer and founder of the band, introduced their final song American Dream with the proclamation that it was for anyone who didn’t want to become a 51st state, which was met with a cheer that rattled the windows of downtown office buildings. 

Following Blood Pressure was renforshort, a singer from Toronto who provided a nice ambience of alternative bedroom pop as the event began to fill up. Juno award winner Aqyila took us into the late afternoon with some groovy contemporary R&B. 

The antepenultimate act of the festival is where things got freaky. We welcomed to the stage Big Sis, a brother-and-sister duo from the United Kingdom. They came out in custom, matching outfits and changed what had been the overall vibe of Fall Fest thus far quite dramatically. They delivered edgy, sexual lyrics over fast, loud techno-beats. Whether it was your thing or not, it got your attention. 

“I love Big Sis, I’m so happy they were able to come out,” said one student, Fall Fest bucket hat gleaming in the setting sun. “I’m having a fantastic time right now.”

“Beer!” Said another student.

After Big Sis came TOBi, the second Juno Award winner of the night. A singer and rapper out of Brampton, Ontario, he took home the Juno for Rap Album of the Year in 2024 and continued the evening with some heavily soul-influenced hip-hop.

Finally, it was time for the headliner. Enter Oliver Tree, the bowl-cut and windbreaker-adorned internet sensation from Santa Cruz, California, and former San Francisco State University student. I know that because I googled it mid-performance when he started talking about not only being from Canada, but also being a MacEwan graduate. That understandably surprised me, so I searched it up and eagerly revealed my findings to my fellow editors, thinking I had perhaps just uncovered a conspiracy on the false-Canadianism of Oliver Tree. I was quickly informed that this is a bit the singer does when he tours, and I am un-hip and not tapped in and unc and chopped and whatever else. Thus, my investigation was put on hold, and I turned to simply enjoying the show. 

While Oliver Tree’s virality may have peaked around 2020, I have to say that I enjoyed his performance. It was exciting and fun, and despite it all being a lie, I do think that leaning into the culture of MacEwan was a cool way to do a show on a university campus. Wearing the crimson grad robes, getting beaten up by the Griffin mascot, and shouting out Towers. It was unique, and funny, and the crowd was loving it. His 2021 hit Life Goes On was fresh enough in the collective Gen Z psyche that it got the whole crowd singing and waving their arms, not really on beat, but close enough. 

All in all, Fall Fest is something that I really enjoy about coming back to MacEwan. For a small school that is sometimes overlooked, it’s our way of forcing ourselves to be noticed. Maybe it isn’t a typical welcome week, but we’re not a typical university. It’s a loud, drunken party in the middle of downtown, and the school buses everyone to the bars after. It’s hot, and sweaty, and people get pretty crazy, but in like two weeks you have a paper due, so enjoy it.