From the old days to nowadays: the history of Spring Fair
Reporting about the SGA, not a record of it: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter published this and the SGA did not write it, file it, or approve it. The archive holds it because the article itself uses the phrase “student council”.
Summary
- This Johns Hopkins News-Letter article traces Spring Fair’s history, including its origins, changing activities and efforts to connect Hopkins with Baltimore.
- The News-Letter reported that Hopkins' Student Council proposed a fine arts festival in 1971–72, which quickly grew into a fair called “3400 on Stage.”
- The paper reported that the first fair received $2,000 from the Student Council and additional grants, and that more than 6,000 people attended despite bad weather.
- The article says that concerns about violence led the Student Council to ban rock music at the 1982 fair, though the decision was not well supported by students.
- The reporter writes that alcohol sales were reduced in 1983 and replaced by a monitored Beer Garden, while the ban on rock music soon ended.
- The article adds that students and administrators stopped assigning yearly themes after Jackpot '99 because planning them took too much effort and distracted from the fair’s purpose.