Students headed to the swamp this past weekend for “Shrolics”—Union Board and Patterson Court Council’s (PCC) Shrek-themed Frolics weekend—filled with food trucks, slip ‘n slides and musical guests. Friday, April 25 marked the beginning of what many consider to be the highlight of each academic year. Last year’s Frolics (which had a “Jaws” theme) brought Del Water Gap and Briston Maroney to campus, setting a high standard for the 2025 weekend. Students danced the night away on the Old Tennis Court Lawn to two 30-minute sets by TikTok mashup master DJ Earworm, Davidson alum-led band The 502s and Musical.ly legend KYLE.
After classes (or, for very committed students, first thing in the morning) on Friday, students donned swimsuits and made their way to PCC Circle. Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) Fraternity hosted “Acapalooza,” featuring performances by Davidson’s four a cappella groups the Delilahs, the Nuances, Androgyny and the Generals. Next door, both Rusk Eating House and the Black Student Coalition fired up burgers and hot dogs on their grills for a cookout. Meanwhile, some students made their way to the Jamie / Hart Courtyard to take a trip down a slip ‘n slide, though many were promptly kicked out by Davidson College Police. All activities led up to the main event: the concert.
First to take the stage was DJ Earworm. DJ Earworm’s first set was only thirty minutes long, but it left a lasting impression on Davidson students. “The mashups were crazy,” Kathleen Degnan ‘27 said. “Like, he really kept us guessing.” The stage presence of DJ Earworm was also notable to the audience. “The guy dancing around and hyping him up was funny,” Degnan shared when referring to DJ Earworm’s enthusiastic hype man who even took his shirt off and waved it like a flag when accompanying him on stage.
Following DJ Earworm was The 502s, an indie folk band led by alum Ed Isola ‘15. Isola even mentioned that one of the songs played in the performance was actually written in his senior apartment during his time at Davidson, emphasizing the band’s connection to the campus community. At one point the band embraced the Shrolics theme and displayed their very own Shrek headbands and played “Accidentally in Love” by the Counting Crows (which was featured in “Shrek 2”), a very fitting moment for the atmosphere.
Regan Harvey ‘27 felt that the performance was perfect for Davidson. “I thought the overall vibe and environment was very positive and I really liked the band’s music and instruments that I [think] went well with the Davidson and frolics vibe,” Harvey shared. “I also thought it was cool that he went to Davidson, it made the performance even more special.”
After a second set from DJ Earworm, KYLE took the stage for a performance full of 2010s throwbacks like “iSpy” and “Hey Julie.” He even played some unreleased songs for the Davidson audience—which they got to vote on. Toward the end of his performance, KYLE took what seemed like a victory lap throughout the audience, running through the crowd and taking selfies with students. Brant Simmons ‘28 recalled “when he hopped down it was a bit of a jumpscare, but also awesome.”
Union Board President Davis Varnado ‘25 and Vice President Bea Middendorf ‘25 led Union Board’s Concert Committee this semester and assisted in the process of choosing the three artists of the weekend. The committee was open to non-Union Board members as well, allowing for the voice of the student body to be heard in the planning process.
Natalie Morris ‘28 participated in the Concert Committee and helped choose the artists for this year’s event. “We looked at the recommendations from Google Forms, we wanted to pick two artists that had pretty different vibes,” she shared. They eventually reached their final decision which was met by excitement by the committee members and artists alike. “The 502s have Davidson alums which was a cool full circle and then KYLE was super excited to come and even did a meet and greet/photo with the committee afterward,” Morris added.
Union Board members worked tirelessly all year to make the perfect weekend event. Katherine Marshall ‘26, next year’s Union Board president and 2023-2024 major events chair and frolics planner, discussed the work that goes on behind the scenes. “The [three] major events chairs, including Natalie [Russell ‘25], Sidney [Donnan ‘27] and Kaesy [Diaz Castellanos ‘27], […] organize the major events of the year. So Fall Fling, Winterfest and Frolics […] the three of them spearhead everything,” Marshall shared. “They really take it on. But it’s really cool because it then becomes a kind of collaborative effort from the Board. It becomes an all hands on deck weekend. It is the first time that the new Board for next year is volunteering with Union Board, so it’s big when it comes to the teamwork aspect of UB.”
The teamwork certainly paid off. Saturday had food trucks, snow cones and inflatable games. Though the BORG ban attempted to prevent blackouts, a campus wide power-outage got in the way. Nevertheless, Union Board persevered and kept the day upbeat (and provided water to sweating students without AC). Connor Eating House hosted a party with a new student band, The Naked Tuesdays, later that night, closing out the weekend just as it began—with music.
Clara Ottati ‘27 is an English and history double major from Chicago, IL and can be reached for comment at [email protected].
Josie Swain ‘27 is an English major from Atlanta, GA and can be reached for comment at [email protected].
