The date of Dillo Day, NU’s Spring Quarter outdoor music festival, will be changed from May 24, the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, to the following Saturday, May 31, Mayfest officially announced Monday. In addition, Dillo Day’s outdoor venue will be moved from the north end of the Lakefill to its southwest corner, near Norris University Center.
“We saw an opportunity for it to be warmer and to have better artists this year,” said Weinberg senior and Mayfest co-Chairman Brendon Lavernia. “We’re sorry if it doesn’t work for people’s travel plans but there’s still that week of school – it was just kind of a fluke this year.”
The biggest change this year will be moving Dillo Day away from Memorial Day weekend. The NU calendar gives students a day off on Memorial Day, May 26, and Dillo Day has traditionally been held that weekend to give students ample time for revelry, with the reading period beginning immediately afterward.
This year, though, the calendar has shifted later. While there is no school on Memorial Day, the Spring Quarter reading period begins June 3.
The Mayfest board did not like the idea of a week of school after Dillo Day, Lavernia said.
Lavernia said the date change opens more possibilities for acts who would not normally be able to perform at NU over Memorial Day.
Due to the continuing construction of sports fields on the north end of the Lakefill, Mayfest had to search for different outdoor locations on campus for Dillo Day and settled on the southwest corner of the Lakefill, Lavernia said.
“They built a huge field where Dillo Day used to be,” he said. “We can’t actually have the stage there anymore so we’re moving to the southwest corner facing the water this year.”
Lavernia added that the move “won’t change Dillo Day drastically.”
As for students who are wondering who this year’s Dillo Day acts will be, Lavernia said Mayfest isn’t ready to reveal the performers.
“We’re nowhere near contractually ready to talk about who we’re dealing with,” he said. “We’re pretty sure the campus will be happy this year.”
