Springfest this year will offer more to students than music from local bands.

Risa Newman, Campus Activities Board “Day in the Park” chairman, said money earned at the event will be donated to the DeKalb Area Food Pantry. Springfest coordinators hope to earn $2,000 for the food pantry, she said.

Jill Ruffer, NIU Campus Activities Board Springfest coordinator, said, “there will be bands, food and everything you could ask for, because there is more emphasis (this year) to bring out people.”

Ruffer said she is very enthusiastic that many people will attend because there will be more to do this year. “It’s something people look forward to because the weather starts to get nice.”

Springfest starts today and will end Saturday with the “Day in the Park” celebration. There will be nooner concerts all week in the Martin Luther King Memorial Commons.

Comedian Beatrice Berry will perform Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center.

There will be a recording booth available from 12:00 p.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday in the King Memorial Commons, Ruffer said. All NIU students are welcome to record a song in the free booth sponsored by Soundtrax, she said.

The booth will be enclosed and soundproof and will provide various types of the latest music, Ruffer said.

The highlight of the week will be “Day in the Park,” which will have four local bands perform from 11:30 a.m. until dusk, Ruffer said. The Springfest committee “brainstormed” for over two months to think of additional events during the day, she said.

She said 30- to 45-minute intermissions will be held between every band’s performance, and various events have been planned to entertain the audience between sets.

One event is a wet Twister contest, Ruffer said. There will be one giant Milton Bradley Twister mat put together by about 20 regular size mats, she said.

The mats will be watered down, and participants will take off their shoes and socks, Ruffer said. The last three people standing will win prizes, she said.

Another event will be a dunking booth. A nominal fee will be collected to dunk a well-known NIU student politician, Ruffer said. Some of the “dunkees” will include Student Association President Paula Radtke, SA President-elect Huda Scheidelman and SA Vice President Gregg Bliss, she said.

Tickets for a balloon launch Saturday will go on sale this week, Ruffer said.

Balloons will have name cards, and the person whose balloon travels the farthest will win a prize, Ruffer said.

Ruffer said a CAB member that dressed up as Gumby during Lil‘ Siblings weekend enjoyed it so much that he volunteered to dress up again and hand out candy to children that attend Saturday’s activities.

Seven committee members helped Ruffer put together the events for Springfest, she said. They all have subcommittees with about 20 volunteers to help with the events during “Day in the Park,” Ruffer said.