The University of Minnesota’s annual Spring Jam will be held on Saturday, featuring live music and more.

In addition to the music, Spring Jam will feature several attractions such as food trucks and student-group-hosted activities. The event is “really a celebration of the UMN campus,” said Luke Geister-Jones, a lead planner for Spring Jam this year.

The ideation for the event mainly comes from the three lead planners of Spring Jam, all of whom are students, Geister-Jones said. This includes themes for the event and musical performers.

However, a variety of student criticisms regarding the food and music dampened last year’s celebration.

Working with that harsh input in mind, Geister-Jones said he feels this year’s Spring Jam will help revive the festival’s reputation. For the most part, student critiques have already softened.

“I think Barstool Gophers, they kinda roasted us a little bit,” Geister-Jones said, referring to a popular Instagram account. “They weren’t super creative though because they used the same meme as last year.”

This year’s musical performers

“It feels like Spring Jam is the moment,” said Kailee Morgue, an artist performing her dark-pop style at the event. Morgue said she prefers festival performances because of the more casual vibe.

Durry, a brother-sister duo, will also perform what band member Austin Durry calls “nostalgic indie rock.”

Austin has been playing music for more than a decade and, just recently, his sister Taryn joined him. Originally from Minnesota, Durry got its start during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My sister was around and I kind of started bouncing ideas off of her,” Austin said. “We have very similar minds and similar upbringing and so our ideas flow really well together and work really well together.”

Other Spring Jam performers include hip-hop artist Eem Triplin, Nashville-based Latin country duo Kat & Alex and electronic music producer Dot.

An increase in food trucks

Spring Jam food trucks this year will include Fro Yo Soul, Thai Thai Street Food, Pharaoh’s Gyros and Russell’s Traveling Kitchen.

In part due to poor weather conditions, a few of the food trucks scheduled for last year’s Spring Jam never showed up.

“Some people were really bummed out by the lack of vegetarian options,” Geister-Jones said.

This year, the planning team looked for vendors that could support the dietary restrictions of a diverse student body.

The Spring Jam team is working to increase the variety of food options and is currently trying to add a taco truck for the event, Geister-Jones said.

Challenges

Ashley Kaser, the University programs manager for student events and entertainment, has worked at Student Union Activities since her undergraduate at the University, more than a decade ago. She said working with Spring Jam requires constant pivoting, a positive attitude and a high tolerance for ambiguity.

“There are wrenches thrown in the system kind of all the time,” Kaser said.

The biggest factors when determining performers are scheduling and budgeting restraints, Kaser said.

“The Taylor Swifts of the world are not going to be accommodating down to our budget,” Kaser said. Many students complained about the musical artists that performed at last year’s event and wanted more well-known artists to perform.

However, the announcement went well this year, Kaser said.

Kaser emphasized the important role student input has on the event, hoping the campus community will come together and enjoy the festival.