The brick pathways of the Upper and Lower Quads look strikingly empty after three days of the 32nd annual Spring Fair, which covered the campus last weekend.
Spring Fair 2003 saw the return of past traditions, including the Hopkins 5K and a car show on Garland Field in the Saturday morning drizzle.
Spring Fair's annual concert Friday night continued last year's hip-hop theme with Blackalicious and The Pharcyde, which performed in front of an audience of 1,200.
Even with some of the returning aspects of last year, Hopkins' renovated campus layout spurred dramatic changes to the 2003 Fair. Craft vendors were stretched across the Upper and Lower Quads, and 17 food vendors were clustered alongside Garland Hall. With the adaptations the event has made throughout the Homewood campus renovations, vendors and patrons have had mixed reactions.
Akbar Restaurant almost didn't come to Spring Fair this year, but owner Vinay Wahi says he is glad he did.
"The fair went much better than the last three years," Wahi said.
While Akbar Restaurant had contemplated not supplying the fair with its traditional curry and samosas,Spring Fair staff negotiations ultimately brought the Indian vendor back.
Wahi said he was pleased with the new arrangement.
"People knew where the food was," he said. "People just take the food and roam around the whole campus."
After 18 years of serving the Hopkins fair, Wahi said the community has noticed.
"People ask in the restaurant, "Are you going to be at the Johns Hopkins Spring Fair?'" he said.
Surrounded by options such as chicken-on-a-stick, kettle corn and kosher hot dogs, the development of a food court served as a magnet for the fair, said sophomore Bari Jane Braunstein.
"The food draws you in, and then you get sidetracked," she said.
Braunstein also enjoyed Fair's new quad layout.
"It's awesome because you can lay in the grass and look at the booths and roll around in it," she said.
With approximately 80 arts and crafts vendors dispersed on the grass between the Upper and Lower Quads, this year's fair attempted to avoid the over-crowding complaints of Fair 2002, when booths were located exclusively on Garland Field, according to Fair advisor Jane Rhyner. But with the new arrangement, many Upper Quad vendors complained of isolation.
"Someone didn't even know that we were up here," said Ida Pogue, owner of 9th Life in Fell's Point. While performances of the Secret Garden and a number of musical acts were organized to draw patrons to the upper quad, Pogue said the location and weather had not given her enough customers to break even.
"The performances were cool, but as far as a moneymaking thing, it kind of wasn't," she said.
The renovations resulting from Hopkins' Master Plan rendered the return of food to the quads impossible, Rhyner said.
"If you look at the quads, it would be hard to put food back there with all the trees planted and the benches," said Rhyner. "The brick walkways and irrigation systems of the campus can now only tolerate "low level activity.'"
Even with a reported decrease in customers, Cliff Panken of The Book Rendez-Vous said he enjoyed his new location.
"Aesthetically, I like the space, but we're away from the vast majority of the vendors," he said.
Having attended the fair since 1997, he said 2003 has not been his best year financially, but he expressed his gratitude to the Spring Fair staff.
"They've been much more responsive and much more helpful. In past years, they acted as if they were doing us a favor," Panken said.
Although vendor evaluations won't come back until later this year, Rhyner said the comments are already being considered.
"From what I understand, some vendors have offered to assist Fair with the arrangements, not only to help choose vendors, but place them," she said.
But Rhyner stressed the large amount of planning necessary with Hopkins Security and the administration.
"If we decide to relocate vendors and make adjustments, we have to talk it through," she said.
Down on the lower quad, Polish food vendor Magdalena Rabinska and her associate enjoyed a performance late Sunday afternoon, and she said she enjoyed the fair atmosphere.
Economic losses may force this to be her last Spring Fair.
"But some festivals you do because you enjoy them," she said.
Intermingling through the lower quads and the Levering arena, booths flowed from student groups to non-profits and political organizations. Greek philanthropic booths included an Alpha Phi raffle and a Phi Mu thrift store, as well as a Sigma Chi Sigma "penny war," raising over a hundred dollars for Children's Miracle Network.
Next to the Engineering booth's table, which was littered with liquid nitrogen-shattered tennis balls, was the Green Party's table, helping to create a political environment, according to party member Thomas Kessler.
"There's a "right to life' booth right across from here. There's all sorts of politics going on here," he said.
In the crossroads of the lower quad, a painted Bill Spink was making his rounds as a clown, creating balloon formations and hats for students.
"I've been going here for 27 years, and I still haven't gotten my diploma yet," the Housing Department manager said. "I think it's great, it just keeps you coming back."
The Beer Garden, one of the more popular Spring Fair traditions, brought a number of adults back to Hopkins.
Ambling back from the Garden's last day, junior Feroze Sidhwa was one of its many satisfied patrons.
"I stole a sign!" he said, furnishing a piece of the garden's decoration. Sidhwa, like much of the over-21 population, said he was there for the majority of all three days.
"Notice the tan," he said, extending his arm.
While the Beer Garden drew college students, alumni and even Charles Village locals, Rhyner said it was the event's family-oriented focus that improved the 2003 Fair.
"When the community can get involved, it makes it better," he said.
Despite the changes, Rhyner emphasized the achievements of the Fair this year.
"It proves again that Spring Fair Committee can pull together and make a successful weekend out of the obstacles they had to face," he said.
