KSDJ will host its second annual May Day Festival Friday, April 29 in Downtown Brookings beginning at 4 p.m.

The event is free to students and community members alike.

The line up includes: Totally Rad, Horseplay, The Tinder Box, Warehouse Eyes and Communist Daughter. A photo booth, face painting, crafts, art, balloon animals and plants will also be part of the festival. 

The Horticulture Club will have a booth selling various plants and mushroom logs. 

Bobbi Egeberg, the KSDJ station manager, said she was mostly responsible for determining the lineup.

“I’m most excited to see Warehouse Eyes because they’re new, and I’ve never seen them live before,” Egeberg said. “The rest of these bands I have seen live, but I’m still really excited for Communist Daughter because they’re so much fun and they’re really nice people, too.”

Mary Berg, the KSDJ program director, said the goal was to have local Midwest bands.

Both The Tinder Box and Horseplay have roots at SDSU as prior or current students, Berg said.

For Egeberg, the festival is mostly just to show people there is a lot of talent in the area.

“There’s good bands that come out of everywhere,” Egeberg said. “The Midwest has something going on, too.” 

Egeberg said she wanted to bring more live music to the campus and community.

“We got so much support from local businesses downtown,” Egeberg said. “But I feel like sometimes there’s a disconnect between the university and Brookings.”

By hosting the event in a more central location downtown, Egeberg said she hopes the event will help to bridge the gap between campus and the community. 

According to Egeberg, the festival costs about $6,500 to put on this year, but they have received sponsorship from local businesses and the campus.

“It was just kind of nice how supportive businesses were and organizations on campus were to get involved even if it wasn’t monetary,” Egeberg said.

Last year, there was a crowd of about 350 throughout the day, and so far, many people have shown interest just through Facebook alone, Egeberg said. They hope at least 300 people attend again.

Berg said the event can be enjoyed by everyone.

“Even if you don’t know some of these artists you can still show up at our festival and enjoy yourself,” Berg said. “You can enjoy the music because we have such good local music.”