By Irina Rusanova
This year, Saint Vincent College hosted a Woodstock-inspired social event, dubbed “Wimmerstock,” on Saturday, April 13. This event came to life to accompany the traditional Spring Family Weekend in celebrating spring activities together with students’ families, alumni and other members of the community.
As a music festival named after the founder of Saint Vincent College, Archabbot Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., Wimmerstock is a means for the college to showcase talented musicians in the area to brighten the atmosphere of Spring Family Weekend, which began Friday, April 12 with with the Mr. SVC event and lasted till Inflatable Day on Sunday, April 14. Despite lacking the presence of such classic artists as The Who and Jimi Hendrix, Wimmerstock and the Spring Family Weekend went by smoothly thanks to brilliant local artists and organizers of additional events, including club/organization displays, sports games, and the annual spring club showcase.
Before Wimmerstock took place, Joe Materkowski, adjunct art professor at SVC and one of the musicians who performed acoustic guitar and vocals at the event, gave a statement regarding his expectations for the day.
Materkowski explained that one of the staff members on the organizing board had heard him play live before and invited him to play at the event. The guitarist said that he was looking forward to playing in front of an audience.
“I’ll probably play several original songs that I wrote and I’ll just, maybe, tailor the rest of it to whoever’s listening at the time,” he said. “[…] I always feed off of the energy of other people listening to music, and the more [the crowd is] enjoying it, the more I […] can enjoy what I’m doing and perform better.”
Thankfully, the event met Materkowski’s expectations, as he expressed his satisfaction to his painting class following Wimmerstock.
Dr. Rivardo, professor of psychological science and a member of the band, Phineas Gage, which also took part in the Wimmerstock festivities, gave an additional statement on his satisfaction with the way the festival played out.
“Wimmerstock went well,” he stated. “We enjoyed the opportunity to entertain the students and families at Wimmerstock.
In addition, Rivardo mentioned that he and the rest of the band enjoyed showing their students a different side of their professors which is not available to view in the classroom. Students had the opportunity to witness their professors in a non-academic environment, and Phineas Gage got a chance to jam out.
“I look forward to seeing Wimmerstock grow,” Rivardo said. “We’re always happy to perform at SVC, so we’d welcome an invitation to play again next year.”