SUZIE LEMONT/Arizona Daily Wildcat The "Yo-Yo" ride spins Saturday night during Spring Fling at Rillito Park. The ride puts patrons in swings and it twirls them around until they are parallel to the ground.

5,000 fewer people than last year attended UA's student-run carnival

Last weekend's weather was sunny and warm, but that was not enough to keep the clouds away from Spring Fling success.

Organizers estimated that just under 30,000 people attended the 29th annual event, 5,000 fewer than last year and more than 10,000 short of the organizers' goal.

Spring Fling, the largest student-run carnival in the nation, grossed between $250,000 and $300,000, according to estimates from organizers. Last year, the event grossed $315,000.

"We actually didn't meet our expectations. Our numbers were noticeably low," said Pedro Contreras, executive director of Spring Fling.

Even though the clubs manning booths at the event did not meet their goal of $100,000, they still brought in more money than in the last few years, Contreras said. But organizers will not know how much more until the final numbers are calculated

About 70 clubs manned 48 food and game booths, taking home an estimated $50,000.

Even if they didn't earn as much money as they anticipated, people working the booths still had fun.

Rob Wild worked the water gun game booth for his philanthropy club, Circle K International.

"I was a big carnie for the night. It was a blast," the physics junior said. "There were lots of kids there, you know, families spending a lot of money, which is good.

Attendees spent a lot of time on the more than 30 rides or watching live performances.

"The live rap was pretty cool," said Chris Elofson, a computer science and math sophomore, "and the rides were fun."

About 10 percent of Spring Fling attendees were UA students, the rest came from other areas of the Tucson community.

"We try to make it a whole Tucson community event," Contreras said.

However, Contreras suspects that conflicting event times last weekend may have hurt attendance.

"The Food City Viva Latino Music Festival," also called the Tex-Mex Jam, was held at Kennedy Park Saturday and Sunday. Also, Saturday night's Disturbed concert at Tucson Pima County Fairgrounds may have drawn away the younger crowds, he said.

Beyond the students that attended for fun, many volunteered at the event, some in booths for their organizations or as security guards.

Spring Fling sent a last-minute e-mail to the campus community asking for security guard volunteers.

"Every year we have a problem trying to get volunteers," Contreras said.

The e-mail received a large response and by Sunday, event organizers had run out of "Security" T-shirts, he said.

Evan Richards, an optical engineering freshman, was one of the many volunteer security guards.

"We were mainly just checking people at the gate, but we also did some patrolling around," he said. "(I enjoyed) taking in the surroundings to the event, seeing people enjoy the rides and the clubs doing quite a bit of fundraising for themselves."

Organizers in ASUA said they began planning for Spring Fling in August.

Before the event began last Thursday, organizers had already spent $130,000 of the $190,000 loan the event requires every year. Organizers do not know yet if the event will break even. They are waiting for the final bills and for expenses to be calculated, Contreras said.

"A lot of people don't know how much money it takes to put on this event," he said.