Droverstock, USAO’s annual spring music festival, is seeing big changes this April. Student life and Housing Coordinator, Annie Roberts and the Droverstock Planning Committee want to increase the festival’s turnout through changes to the itinerary and the addition of an afterparty for students and the community off campus at Legends Pub House & Venue. 

The festival is one of three events during the Spring Triad, which will be Thursday, Apr. 4. The morning begins with scholastic meets and the Montmartre Chalk Art Festival. In recent years, the Admissions Office held one of their annual recruitment days, Junior Day, in the morning too. Most of these events wrap up around midday, and one change that Roberts and the committee made was a break before the music festival began.  

“I’m excited for the community and students to be able to come out and build those connections that are so important during your college experience,” Roberts said. “This event was made for our student body to have an opportunity to enjoy themselves.”  

The 2024 Droverstock has a western theme, which is reflected in the red dirt and soft rock style bands slated to play throughout the night. In recent weeks, many flyers and social media posts have been made to let students and the community know about the upcoming event. Recent renovations include the extending hours to 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. to create a night life scene. The festival will welcome several bands including headliner Gannon Fermin and CCREV, The Smokin’ Oats, Oaktown, and Adara Kay.

There will be drinks offered from USAO’s beer garden for those over the age of 21, and plenty of space in the Oval for picnic blankets and fold-up chairs to enjoy the live music scene. A number of food trucks, vendors, and booths for clubs and organizations will be stationed around the Oval to provide guests with food and information.

Junior business major Bella Wilson is the president of this year’s Droverstock Planning Committee, expressed her excitement about the new changes to this year’s event,  

“This year our big goal and emphasis is to present something new and fresh for our students and community to participate in,” Wilson said. “I am super excited for everyone to come out. Bring your friends and family, anybody and everybody is welcome.”

Another of the new improvements to this year’s festival is the newly added location for the Art Department’s expanded media projects. In past years certain areas were off limits to the Art Department to use for big projects. This year’s projects have a theme of repetition, which means guests can expect to see lots of patterns and modular forms in this year’s projects.

Since partnering with Roberts, Jordyan Vinyard, dean of visual and performing arts, has been offered to use the Oval for an art installation. According to Vinyard, the most competitive pieces will take place in this new location. As a way of inviting guests to view all of the projects, a scavenger hunt passport will happen in the morning portion, as guests can try to find all of the projects.

“The caliber and quality of the projects this year, I have high expectations and am very excited to see the outcome,” Vinyard said.  

The Droverstock Planning Committee has made it a great effort to fundraise and get the word out about the freshly revamped event. From social media, radio mentions, and the power of word of mouth, the news about the red dirt western event has surely made its way across Chickasha.

Preorder sales for t-shirts ended Friday, Mar. 15, but t-shirts will be for sale on the day of the event for $25.

For more information about vendor registration, activities, and to listen to the event’s music click here.  

Yaiza Larrauri is a third-year business management and art double major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.