Yahoo Fest

The earliest reference to Yahoo Fest is found in the North Adams Transcript from 1974 where it was already called an annual event. The festival likely started in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s and ended in the late 1990’s. The festival was held during late spring and was originally open to the public, before becoming open to students and alumni only by 1986. Yahoo Fest itself was a weekend long event where multiple bands would come and play while students participated in various sporting events. These events included raft racing, canoe racing and jousting, home run derbies, keg and egg tosses as well as log running. During many of these festivals, sports teams would have matches, such as baseball, much to the chagrin of the opposing teams, who faced the large, rowdy audience of NASC’s home team.

Many of the minor events would focus on Windsor Lake where the festival was always held, with the main fairground being at the athletic complex. Over the years the Outing Club, with sponsorships from other clubs, would introduce food and alcohol sales, and more exotic attractions such as elephants and camels to be ridden in 1986. Some students over the years would even use the opportunity to sell their own crafts to others. The first few festivals appeared to be simple, if a bit unprepared, with records showing an increase in complexity as the years went on, making sure more staff and security were available for the event, and hiring more help beyond just students running the show, as crowds of up to 3,000 began to attend in the eighties.

Early on, however, there would be some issues with the town and students partying at the festival. Many people from the neighborhood would come out against the activities of students as they reported property from lawns being stolen, and trash, mostly beer bottles, being littered throughout the lake and festival grounds. These complaints would cause additional restrictions to be placed such as in 1989 where students and alumni were no longer allowed to bring guests, and a six-drink maximum being placed on attendants. Meetings were held with school and student organizers and memos were created for the head of college to discuss and resolve these issues. With each passing year the festival seems to have become a smaller and more organized event until it appears to end as an event around the years 1994-1995.