James Togo first went to Mayfest when he was a sophomore in high school. His sister, who was studying at Syracuse University at the time, took him to Walnut Park three years ago and he had a great time.

“That’s why I chose to come to Syracuse and that’s why Syracuse is the No. 1 party school in the country,” Togo said.

Despite heavy rain and temperatures in the low 50s, hundreds of students showed up at this year’s Mayfest in Walnut Park on Friday afternoon.

Dozens of students flooded into the park as gates opened up at 1 p.m., and hundreds kept pouring in as time went by.

Music blasted and about 100 people gathered around the stage, but a large crowd of attendees congregated around the food booths to get free food such as corn dogs, hamburgers and chicken kebabs. The line for the food consisted of about 150 people for longer than an hour and a half.

This year’s Mayfest was the second one James Schiera participated in. Schiera, a senior civil engineering major who is on SU’s rowing team, said the team is usually in a tournament around this time of the year but wasn’t competing that weekend.

“Honestly, I am just here for the food,” he said, adding that he had eaten a corn dog and popcorn and would soon be heading down for practice.

Gerald Smith showed up to Mayfest wearing a gray suit and black tie. Smith, a Master of Business Administration student, just concluded his capstone project and came to Mayfest to get food.

Garet Bleir, a sophomore magazine and marketing dual major, dropped by Mayfest with his friends so that he could “live his life to the fullest.”

“I know Chance The Rapper wants me to have good time here,” Bleir said.

Bleir was the source of inspiration behind Otto Neiler’s outfit. Neiler, a sophomore forest health major at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, was wearing a white faux fur vest on top of a tie dye shirt.

As he was one of the first 100 people who visited the Mayfest booth, Neiler was able to acquire a Mayfest beanie, which he wore underneath a suede cowboy hat.

“The items inspired me, they awoke something inside of me, a primordial instinct,” Neiler said.

By 2:30 p.m. sprinkles of rain turned into a regular rainfall. Anticipating the rain, some students showed up with umbrellas and ponchos, but a large number of them simply let themselves get soaking wet.

“I’m sad because they said it was not going to rain, but I’m not going to leave unless it starts pouring,” said Kate Weyant, a freshman television, radio and film major.

The weather did not bother Weyant, especially since she heard that last year it was snowing.

Since this was her first Mayfest, Weyant said she attended because she heard it was a lot of fun and that there would be plenty of free “swag.”

Shanice Bland, a senior television, radio and film major, said her favorite part of Mayfest is being able to see all of her friends, spanning from the ones she made freshman year to those from her senior year.

“Even people you hate you get to become friends with (at Mayfest),” Bland said.

Holding two packets of cotton candy, Kokeith Perry II, a sophomore architecture major, said he mainly attended the festivities for the free food.

Regarding the atmosphere of Mayfest, he added that the music had been getting progressively better.

“This is the best time of the year, where everybody gets to relax,” said Aidan Meyer, a junior public relations major. “It’s such an academically demanding school so it’s nice to get to come together like this.”

Published on April 29, 2016 at 6:20 pm

Contact Stacy: sfern100@syr.edu | @StacyFernandezB