30th Annual Forty Acres Fest Celebrates Student Bands

By Michelle Tamayo

Reporting Texas TV

AUSTIN, Texas – Booths, attractions, food and music filled the University of Texas mall for the latest edition of the annual Forty Acres Fest, as it has nearly every year since the event’s inception 1992.

The university’s student programming organization, Campus Event and Entertainment, brought the for student, by student fest to life. This year’s headliner was singer-songwriter Remi Wolf.

The free event kicked off with different activities including face painting, bounce houses, henna tattoos, and food. Student bands played tunes while the audience mingled.

One of this year’s participation incentives was a booth contest. Student organizations competed to raise money and win prizes awarded by Campus Events and Entertainment for creativity and booth design.

The university is at the center of the Live Music Capital of the World.  Sunshine Haskins, the event coordinator, said Campus Events and Entertainment want to bring students together to honor that.

“The purpose of Forty Acres Fest is to really just celebrate the UT community, especially the talent of the bands we have,” Haskins said.

West 22nd, a student folk rock band, competed against three other bands in a Battle of the Bands in early March to earn the opportunity to open for Remi Wolf. Fans picked West 22nd as the winner, and they got to be the final student band to take the stage.

Remi Wolf drew a large, energetic crowd of students to close out the night.

Many UT students were excited to participate in Forty Acres Fest again. Senior Bethany Stork said it was her second or third time to attend.

“I love seeing all the performances, but it’s also just seeing the culture of the people interacting and having a good time,” Stork said.