Heating up a wintry MayFest

The cold weather and occasional snow wasn't enough to scare away the Syracuse University students looking for free food, drinks and music at Walnut Park for University Union's annual MayFest celebration Friday.

And, if you weren’t expecting to see Tigger and Elmo dancing on stage dressed as Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph, you were in for quite a surprise.

Photo: Glorianna Picini

A student cashes in for a free drink at Walnut Park on Friday.

Mayfest Photos

See more people and scenes from this year's celebration.

AER, pronounced "air,"  opened the show with their rock, hip-hop and house fusion, which woke the sleeping crowd and got the dancing started. After mentioning the weather between each song, AER made way for 5 & A Dime to bring the house music and liven the shivering crowd up. After opening with a house remix of the Lion King song "The Circle of Life," he mashed up everybody’s favorite new party song, "Call Me Maybe." Dashing from side to side, 5 & A Dime moved on to "#BASSMOB," and Tigger and Elmo joined him on stage wearing Jardine's and Joseph’s jerseys.

Next up was Timeflies, self-described as electro-hip-pop-dub-something, and the band lived up to that description. The snow and possibly frost bitten hands didn’t scare anyone back inside. The crowd continued to grow and stay together, moving with the music and singing along, hands swaying in the air.

After Timeflies, Outasight made his way to the stage. By this time, the crowd had grown to encompass most of the stage area. Best known for his 2011 hit "Tonight is the Night," Outasight got everyone moving, jumping and dancing around, some even asking security officers to take pictures.

Music is always a huge part of MayFest, but it wouldn’t be an event at SU if there weren’t plenty of free food and swag. From tank tops to trucker hats and shirts you had to tweet for, there was no shortage of MayFest-related apparel. Everyone was clamoring for the free food, and students older than 21 were entitled to three free beers.

The war continued between freedom from school rules on Euclid Avenue, and enough free food to feed an entire frat house in Walnut Park. While Walnut Park had free food and live performers, Euclid stepped it up this year, with some partygoers even claiming to have seen a bounce house. How’s that for childhood nostalgia? With their own student DJs and enough beer to fill the Carrier Dome, Euclid won’t be beat by Walnut anytime soon.

Seen at Mayfest

Photos by Gabriel Shore and Glorianna Picini.