BY Dillon Sand

Staff Reporter

Every year, the arrival of music, large tents, vendors and a Red Bull truck mark the beginning of the Outdoor Spring Symposium at Central Washington University. This year, the event was held in its usual location, the SURC patio.

Outdoor Pursuits and Rentals (OPR) organizes the event as a way to inform Central students of all the opportunities available in Ellensburg and the surrounding areas.

Adam Ransavage, the Event Programmer at OPR, was the creator of this year’s event. His goal was to get students excited about the outdoors and inform them of all the great opportunities around them.

“Around here [Ellensburg], provides a lot of fun opportunities and students should take full advantage of them,” Ransavage said.

This year’s event hosted a variety of vendors including Red Bull, DiamondBack Bikes, Stevens Pass Bike Park, Pizza Collin, regional clothing brands, board shops and more. With everything from longboards to clothing and river and bike tours, students had many options to check out..

Vendors at the event seemed to be having as good a time as anyone, dancing and singing along with music provided by 88.1 The Burg. Many vendors were also not afraid to cut deals on their products for Central students, commonly giving up 50 to 70 percent off on their products.

“It’s always a pleasure coming here and seeing the students again,” Matt Ellis of Northwest Riders said. “We’ve been coming here for years and years and it’s always fun.”

Many of the vendors have past ties with Central- some are currently enrolled, other graduated or had previously worked at the school.

“Students look forward to this every year. It’s always been going on, even since I’ve  started here,” said Joey Brabo, who was representing Townie Shades.

The event is held annually, and will be available next year to students who missed this year, or wish to return to the event next year.