Spring Fling to remain on campus in 2015

Spring Fling, an event that once caused complaints about noise, littering, theft, vandalism and traffic, improved so much when it was initially allowed back last spring that the UA has OK’d a repeat engagement for April 2015.

“They really have done an amazing job and turned things around,” said Bill Craig of the Sam Hughes neighborhood, across from the UA on North Campbell Avenue.

The carnival, which raises money for student clubs, was relegated for years to the Rillito Downs racetrack on North First Avenue, where attendance and donations dipped. Craig said many Sam Hughes residents were nervous at first when UA President Ann Weaver Hart allowed the event back on campus last spring for its 40th anniversary.

But student organizers kept their promise to prevent the previous negative impacts, he said.

The carnival’s main entrance was moved away from nearby homes. The stage was turned westward to keep amplified sound on campus, and students patrolled area streets to pick up litter. A complaint hotline was set up, and the event’s length cut from four days to three.

Craig, the Sam Hughes Neighborhood Association’s point person on Spring Fling, said he kept in close touch with residents nearest to campus to see if they’d noticed an improvement.

“I was out checking every day, and people were extremely complimentary,” of the changes, he said.

Student groups that depend on carnival proceeds benefited when the event returned to campus. More than $72,000 was raised, about 18 percent more than the year prior, a recent UA report said.

Attendance increased to more than 30,000, compared with 18,000 at the racetrack location, the report said.

In a recent joint email to UA students and employees, Hart and student body President Isaac Ortega hailed the “great success” of the new carnival model and its upcoming return to the UA mall.

“The atmosphere on campus is unbeatable,” they said.