Rain forces rescheduling of Women's Festival

Though the Saga Women's Festival tries to continue despite the wet weather, organizers decided the final events would take place in April

By Britney Munoz
The Collegian

Rain did not go away Monday night during the first Saga Women’s Festival, held in the campus Peace Garden.

But not even bad weather could intimidate the spirits of this festival. Fresno State students and members of the community joined in song, chanting “I’ve got sunshine on a on a cloudy day,” hoping their collective thoughts would clear the storm.

Michelle Colvin, event organizer and president of People Organized for Women’s Empowerment and Representation said she hoped for the best.

“I had a vision of a women’s summit two years ago,” Colvin said. “It was a celebration of women’s talents through art and poetry, a representation of women in the community.”

The event began at 5 p.m. with a musical performance by Anna Tarka and a poetry reading from Francine Oputa, which set the tone of the evening.

An hour and half into the festival,it was determined the show could not go on. Due to the rain belly dancers couldn’t shake things up, and the highly anticipated Julia Dawn couldn’t get the crowd into a groove. They simply could not perform.

Vishinna Turner, 21, a Fresno City College student and local artist, said that she wanted to have an active role in societal change, and that’s what brought her to the festival.

“Art is an image that the mind cannot comprehend but the heart knows it to be true,” Turner said.

A concentration of the crowd’s interest was on a booth titled, “Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery.” According to the booth’s director, 91 cities in the United States have reported cases of human trafficking; with the average age of those trafficked being 13 years old.

Meggan Hartman, a junior art major at Fresno State, heard the buzz and went to see for herself.

“The sexual slavery booth is blowing my mind,” Hartman said.

Colvin said that festival fund-raising efforts, such as sales of sweatshop-free T-shirts and a 50/50 drawing, were designed to generate proceeds toward building a Jane Addams statue, planned for the Peace Garden.

Brothers of Delta Sigma Phi volunteered their time and sound equipment to the festival. Jerrod Hill, the fraternity’s president, said the mission was to not only to promote women’s studies but also open-mindedness and diversity.

A blood drive was also set up. Donor Samantha Titus said after arriving for the festival, she realized she hadn’t given blood in quite some time.

As the rain persevered, many spectators treated themselves to hot tea, free massages and orange parkas, while artists rushed to cover their work. Others sat on the grass under umbrellas awaiting the rest of the entertainment.

The forecast finally delayed the festival. A spokesperson for the event said Saga will reconvene sometime after April 29. Snacks were served in the nearby Women’s Resource Center as a courtesy goodbye.

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