Wild Fest was attended by hundreds of CWU students on May 23, with a variety of activities, food and musical guests.

Bounce houses were set up by 2 p.m. and included slides, sumo wrestling, boxing, and obstacle courses. Food was provided by CWU Catering Services, with free sliders, teriyaki sticks, quesadillas and more for the student attendees. Only CWU students were admitted into Wild Fest. The musical guests included CWU freshman Matthew Wiemals, also known as

DJ Sparrow. Wiemals began his performance at 6 p.m., playing electronic dance music (EDM). According to Wiemals, he has been performing for eight years, including on 88.1 the ‘Burg’s Friday night show called Electropolis which he hosts with eight other student DJs. This is Wiemals’ first time performing live at CWU.

“Basically, my whole goal of performing is to just have a party, for everyone to just have fun,” Wiemals said. “I’m hoping to make a name for myself out here. Being able to play on the radio is such a great opportunity but I’m really hoping to show people what I can do live today.”

Wild Fest culminated with a performance by Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers, a hip-hop and spoken word band from Sacramento, California. According to Hobo Johnson, also known as Frank Lopes Jr., he came up with the stage name after being kicked out of his house by his father when he was 19 and having to live in his car.

“I could never go to college. I could never find the inner strength to get myself to do it every day. I have so much respect for all of you who can do it,” Lopes said. “At the end of the day what I want [to come across in my music] is to share your feelings, I think a lot of people bottle it up and I think people should voice how they feel.”

Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers finished their set with their single “Peach Scone” before the audience began chanting for an encore. Lopes obliged, asking if any of the students in the audience could play “Wonderwall” on guitar, picking out one student from the crowd who played the song on guitar while the audience sang along.

Earlier, during the event from 1-4 p.m. was the Hip Hop Rodeo. It featured a graffiti artist showcase, an MC battle and breakdance battles while the rest of Wildfest was being set up. The Hip Hop Rodeo is hosted by the Hip Hop Central club which invites artists and performers from around the country to practice their different crafts and judge the different battles. MCing the event was ASCWU VP for Equity and Community Affairs Maurice Watkins III. Watkins has been a part of previous years’ Hip Hop Rodeos and said that he told himself for the past year that he would host the event this time around.

“Hip-hop is an opportunity for folks to come have fun and learn about others’ experiences through their art,” Watkins said. “Ellensburg doesn’t have a lot of hip hop, so we wanted to come out and share it with others. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Hip-hop has four elements: DJs, MCs, breakdancing and graffiti. Members of Hip Hop Central meet on Thursdays from 8-9:30 p.m. in the Recreation Center, with different areas for people to practice different elements of hip-hop.

All four of those elements were showcased at the Hip Hop Rodeo. The DJ for the event was 36-year-old Lars “SoulRane” Sverre from Los Vegas, Nevada who said that he wants to show people that hip-hop isn’t as intimidating as they sometimes think.

“It’s hard to have skills, but not to practice,” Sverre said.

Sverre DJed for the B-boy (breakdance) battle, while finalists Bryan Reyes and Steel Will competed for the trophy.

Reyes is a 24-year-old from Tri Cities, Washington who has been dancing for 10 years. Will, a 37-year-old from Los Angeles, California, has been dancing for 12 years and is currently in the Army, stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). The previous rounds were judged by audience applause.The final round, however, was judged by experienced dancers who were hiding in the audience. When the judges came out they proclaimed Will the winner.

The graffiti element was represented by a group of artists who each painted one piece inspired by CWU and one freestyle piece of their choosing. Trevor Braden, 32, said that he has been painting for 15 years, starting in Toppenish, Washington where he grew up and still lives. Most of the pieces that he paints are inspired by Native American art styles and comic books.

“It’s always been associated with gang stuff with people marking their territory,” Braden said.

“Nowadays it’s really separated, there are people who make thousands or millions from graffiti art.”

Braden said that he has done events all over the state in order to help spread the art form that he is passionate about. He thinks that graffiti is largely frowned-upon in areas like Ellensburg and hopes people want to learn more about it.

“I want to expose this area to graffiti art, I hope they keep doing this event and it keeps going on for many years,” Braden said.

Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers finished their set with their single “Peach Scone” before the audience began chanting for an encore. Lopes obliged, asking if any of the students in the audience could play “Wonderwall” on guitar, picking out one student from the crowd who played the song on guitar while the audience sang along.

Earlier during the event from 1-4 p.m. was the Hip Hop Rodeo. It featured a graffiti artist showcase, an MC battle and breakdance battles while the rest of Wild Fest was being set up. The Hip Hop Rodeo was hosted by the Hip Hop Central club which invites artists and performers from around the country to practice their different crafts and judge the different battles. MCing the event was ASCWU VP for Equity and Community Affairs Maurice Watkins III. Watkins has been a part of previous years’ Hip Hop Rodeos and said that he told himself for the past year that he would host the event this time around.

“Hip hop is an opportunity for folks to come have fun and learn about others’ experiences through their art,” Watkins said. “Ellensburg doesn’t have a lot of hip hop, so we wanted to come out and share it with others. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Hip hop has four elements: DJs, MCs, breakdancing and graffiti. Members of Hip Hop Central meet on Thursdays from 8-9:30 p.m. in the Recreation Center, with different areas for people to practice different elements of hip-hop.

All four of those elements were showcased at the Hip Hop Rodeo. The DJ for the event was 36-year-old Lars “SoulRane” Sverre from Los Vegas, Nevada who said that he wants to show people that hip hop isn’t as intimidating as they sometimes think.

“It’s hard to have skills, but not to practice,” Sverre said.

Sverre DJed for the B-boy (breakdance) battle, while finalists Bryan Reyes and Steel Will competed for the trophy.

Reyes is a 24-year-old from Tri Cities, Washington who has been dancing for 10 years. Will, a 37-year-old from Los Angeles, California, has been dancing for 12 years and is currently in the Army, stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM). The previous rounds were judged by audience applause. The final round, however, was judged by experienced dancers who were hiding in the audience. When the judges came out they proclaimed Will the winner.

The graffiti element was represented by a group of artists who each painted one piece inspired by CWU and one freestyle piece of their choosing. Trevor Braden, 32, said that he has been painting for 15 years, starting in Toppenish, Washington where he grew up and still lives. Most of the pieces that he paints are inspired by Native American art styles and comic books.

“It’s always been associated with gang stuff with people marking their territory,” Braden said. “Nowadays, it’s really separated, there are people who make thousands or millions from graffiti art.”

Braden said that he has done events all over the state in order to help spread the art form that he is passionate about. He thinks that graffiti is largely frowned-upon in areas like Ellensburg and hopes people want to learn more about it.

“I want to expose this area to graffiti art, I hope they keep doing this event and it keeps going on for many years,” Braden said.