What are we gonna do come September?

Fireworks light up Studley Quad following the concert. (Danny Abriel Photo)

What beats free snow cones, pink cotton candy, popcorn, Gladiator battles and rock climbing? Perhaps an energetic (and free) concert by Matt Mays, followed by a massive fireworks display.

SEE PHOTOS: Fall flourish (Photos by Danny Abriel)

Dalfest ’10 kicked off the school year yesterday with a carnival-styled celebration. Tents and tables scattered the Dal quad, where various games could be played for prizes. The one game that cost money was well worth the suggested toonie. DSU executives volunteered at the dunk tank to raise money for Shinerama.

DSU President Chris Saulnier, perched on his seat above the tank, watched nervously as a student kept coming very close to hitting the centre button of the dunk tank.

“This sucks, this sucks!” he said with a huge grin, right before getting dunked.

“Is it cold?” asked Hannah Dahn, VP Student Life, who was going to take a turn later on in the afternoon.

“It’s not too bad.”

Along with dunking your DSU exec, there was beach volley ball, musical quarters and trampolines on either side of the rock climbing wall.

But nothing beats the best part of Dalfest – Matt Mays. While opening bands Alert the Medic and the Stanfields warmed up the crowd, a fairly steady stream of more students approached the quad.

When Matt Mays hit the stage, students gravitated to the front of the stage. He welcomed new students to Nova Scotia with an hour and a half of good music. Near the end of the concert there were three beach balls bouncing over the huge group of students near the stage, as well as a happy crowdsurfer.

As the longhaired rocker left the stage, the crowd chanted “one more!”

After his encore, he was looking at something behind all of the students. Everyone turned around to see red, white and green Roman candles being fired off behind the beer tent. The fireworks slowly built up until a wall of white sparks accented in colour filled the sky around the Hicks building and the students were cheering enthusiastically. Dalfest ’10 certainly ended with a bang.

Ms. Dahn felt that Dalfest was a, “huge success. I’m really happy with the turnout of people. It was really great.”