The name is ever more graceful and harmonious than the actual day, the cacophony-filled blur of fun, or the people living it could ever be. Freshmen hear whispers of it beginning during Orientation; the legendary day that everyone has that one story about, starting with, “This one time last year at Floralia.” It is said with a slight grin on your face, the memory bringing a sparkle of both nostalgia and excitement to your eyes. This is the legendary day that leaves the campus (and its students) a wasteland strewn with the cherry red solo cups. But there’s more to the story than that: Annalise Keeler ’14 mentions how one of her favorite parts about Floralia is that “it’s a day to relax and be with the community.” Last year’s Floralia, with its perfectly sunny weather, was a great example of the campus coming together under dozens and dozens of tents to enjoy live music and forget all worries of school work and upcoming finals.
Historically, Floralia is a celebration of Conn’s students: it was born from the mind of a sophomore, Tim Scull, Class of 1979. Floralia was the product of an independent study project in theater Scull was working on. Over the years the event has changed substantially: the original line-up included a jazz quintet and puppeteers. The effort to construct the original Floralia in 1977 was a scrambled one; Scull did most of the work himself from planning the program to building a wooden stage and figuring out contracts with performers.
Nowadays, things are a bit more extravagant. Floralia is a more than $50,000 operation, including attractions of a wide variety from year to year. There’s a subgroup of the Student Activities Council (SAC) devoted entirely to planning the event. In the past, Conn has seen obstacle courses and bouncy houses. For Keeler, “the huge obstacle course [was a blast], it was maybe the most fun I have had in all four years here at Conn.” Other highlights over the past few years have included Chiddy Bang in 2013 and Matt and Kim back in 2010. In 2012, New Boyz was scheduled to headline, but early in the day’s festivities the agent called to cancel because one of the band members was in the hospital.
Beyond just being for the students, since 1977, Floralia has attracted a wide number of people: the first one ever being attended by more than 1,000 people. The second, in 1979, drew crowds from Wesleyan and Trinity. Alumnae and members of the community come to campus for this reprieve from real life in a one-day celebration of music, spring and lots and lots of booze.
Floralia 2014’s artist selection was slightly different this year than previous years because SAC decided to set up a Facebook page on which students could leave suggestions. This year, The Rooks, RAC and St. Lucia (the headliner) will take the stage. SAC Co-Chairs Isabel Marx ’14 and Gracie Pearlman ’14 noted that the biggest difficulties surrounding booking artists for Floralia are primarily regarding cost. While it did create some much needed transparency in the selection process, the Facebook page also made the process much longer. This year’s music is mostly rooted in alternative EDM and alternative punk. As the years have gone by, the music groups hosted by Conn have differed, but always the set list has always articulated the diverse, progressive tastes of Conn’s students.
One of the more difficult parts about this article was recalling the history of it: asking people what they remember from preceding Floralia begs the question that they actually remember anything in the first place, but in the hunt for memories, there were some bright spots and for everyone it was different. Lissa Pelletier ’15 recalls the pre-fiesta siesta towards the end of the day “Right after everyone takes a nap and the sun is starting to go down there’s a lull in the day. There’s hookah and you can play cards and chill. It is a nice part of the day.”
In as few words as possible, Miranda Young ’16 summed up the day as being “magical,” and a common quote heard around campus is that Floralia is “better than Christmas.” “Which is true,” said Marx. Her Floralia moment was her freshman year when after a mid-afternoon rainstorm finally cleared up “my friends and I walked outside of nearby dorm to head back to the Library Green, there was a beautiful rainbow spread over campus. It could not have been more perfect!” Evert Fowle’s ’14 favorite brief memory of Floralia from back in 2010: “Popping balloons with Hoodie Allen.” Let’s be honest, that is pretty hard to top.
Floralia carries with it the carefree warmth of summer and the promise that finals will soon be over. The day so anticipated, whose survivors are left like the post-modern cowboys of the college days, watching the sunset go down as the smoke and noise clears in the background—the glorious victors of yet another ridiculous battle with reality. Floralia will carry its own connotation relative to each individual person. Floralia can be anything you want it to be. It is what you make it, which was Tim Scull’s idea all the way back in the ‘70s. Floralia may be a vivid blur of elicit activity, the resulting memories a hazy dust cloud left in the days wake; for others, Floralia will be the lucid, quiet moments between the rush when the Green has quieted down and hookah smoke begins to rise lazily over the tents. Or maybe Floralia is popping balloons with Hoodie Allen. Like I said, it’s what you make it. •
