As we round the corner towards family weekend this Saturday, students and families are eager to know what sort of fun events are planned.

Luckily for students and families, this Saturday evening will be packed with music and activities, thanks to Java. Everyone’s favorite theme house, which fills the St. Lawrence campus with music every Thursday night has announced this year’s Melonfest, starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Students and families can expect a selection of seven (unnamed) student bands who will be playing for families from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. While there, you can enjoy a selection of activities. One such activity is face-painting, where everyone is welcome to become their favorite animal or just get a fun design.

As well as that, everyone can work with the Artist’s Guild to turn their favorite (or least favorite) white t-shirt into a tie-dye art piece to enjoy for years to come.

Although summer is reaching its end — and luckily for the staff and students, the weather has cooled down significantly — melons are still a refreshing treat for any season.

Make sure you sample some of the delectable melons that will be supplied. Not only are these melons fresh and juicy, but they are also locally sourced. Knowing that the snack you’re enjoying is tasty as well as carbon-neutral makes any fruit or vegetable that much better.

The fun doesn’t stop at 6 p.m. either because, at 10:30 p.m., the Java Barn will once again be bringing us another fantastic band. Petite League has been making music since 2014, and on Spotify, their top hit has a whopping 3,520,861 streams. The musical quartet comes from Syracuse, New York, which is not too far from Canton.

Currently, the group is based out of Queens, New York. For all the Indie Pop Rock fans at St. Lawrence, Petite League may just be the perfect addition to your favorite playlist.

As always, it is expected to be an amazing show, so it may just be worth the trip over to the Java Barn to give them a listen.

For all of the merch fans out here, there will also be Melonfest 2023 t-shirts and stickers on sale throughout the event. Be sure to pick some Melonfest merch up to have a piece of Melonfest for years to come.

Melonfest certainly stands out as an ambitious and exciting event to really give this year’s Laurentian weekend a kick to make sure students and families have a great time together.

This year’s Melonfest is shaping up to be an event you won’t want to miss. Make sure to stop by to support the students and faculty who came together to make this amazing event possible.