The tradition of Dillo Day at Northwestern is pretty straightforward. One day. Debauchery. A healthy smattering of random ETHS kids in the crowd. But not all universities do their Dillo Day equivalents like us. Turns out, there are plenty of factors that make each school’s event special. Would you pick another school's event over Dillo? Perhaps, and thanks to the quarter system you could always take a weekend to visit a friend.
DePaul University’s FEST takes place near the end of May. Unlike Dillo Day, students aren’t allowed to invite guests. Tickets cost $10 – pretty cheap for a one-day concert with three or four different artists. Past years have featured artists like Wiz Khalifa, Ludacris and The Cool Kids.
Rain can also impact FEST. For an additional dollar, students can purchase an insured ticket for guaranteed admittance into an indoor venue on the off-chance that there’s inclement weather.
Spring Weekend: Brown University
Spring Weekend at Brown University features six to seven performances. If that seems like a lot, it's because Brown’s event takes is split over two days, usually a Friday and Saturday in mid-April. Claire Rhee, a freshman at Brown, said that this year Spring Weekend happened to fall on 4/20. "You could even see it during the concert. There was a lot more moshing on Friday. On Saturday [4/20], everyone was just kind of sitting there like, 'Heeeeeeey, what's up?'"
This past year, a canine bomb squad was brought to Spring Weekend by the police because of the weekend’s proximity to the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings. Rhee noted that quite a few people had invited friends from the Boston area, but many had to cancel their plans.
Last Day of Classes: Duke University
Duke holds Last Day of Classes on, yes, the last day of spring semester classes. Duke University’s LDOC lineup has three performers and is exclusively for students. But, the free event is sandwiched between lots of other happenings. Kevin Butz, a rising sophomore at Duke, says that he had three classes on this year's LDOC. "People just don't [go to class], or they show up to class drunk."
One traditional event that takes place every year on LDOC is the Duke Chapel Climb, hours before the concert. Students are allowed to go to the top of Duke Chapel and see the view.
Revelry Music and Arts Festival: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Revelry, a huge, one-day event at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, features over a dozen performances. Like Dillo Day, Revelry prominently features rappers and DJ artists. This year the event featured Hoodie Allen, Chance the Rapper, DJ RED SPEX and DJ Deliboy. Depending on when students buy tickets, the cost is either $5 or $10.
In the past, students would attend the Mifflin Street Block Party, an event that takes place in Madison. However, due to the violence and arrests that take place at the block party each year, Revelry was offered up this past year as a safer alternative. "[The university] said that it was just how [the dates] worked out...but, it did draw some crowds away from Mifflin," Wisconsin freshman Tyler Blahnik said.
Little 500: Indiana University
IU's Little 500 takes place over a weekend in April, and if DM and Dillo had a lovechild, this would be it. This event is the largest collective bike race in the nation, and it's gigantic. Over 25,000 people come to Bloomington, Ind. to watch the event.
This year, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were featured at the Little 500. Amidst music and friendly competition, the event is held to raise scholarship money for students working their way through college.