The history and revival of a Hawk Hill tradition
Saint Joseph’s University will hold its fourth annual HawkFest celebration weekend from Sept. 22 to Sept. 24 on the James J. Maguire ’58 Campus.
Formerly known as Hawktoberfest, HawkFest first took place in the fall of 1989. That year, singer Tony Bennett gave a special performance at what is now the Michael J. Hagan Arena. Although St. Joe’s doesn’t have a football team as the university did in the ’20’s and ’30’s, Hawktoberfest still served as a fall homecoming and reunion to give alumni the chance to reconnect and visit their home on Hawk Hill.
After a second run in 1990, though, Hawktoberfest went on hiatus until 2011. That year, according to Thomas Monaghan, assistant vice president of Alumni Relations, the university decided to revive the celebration.
“Every alum would be invited back to campus each year, not just for their reunion years,” Monaghan said. “We also wanted to create family friendly activities for young families with kids.”
The revival of HawkFest started small and grew in the coming years. It wasn’t until 2014 when Alumni Relations partnered with Student Leadership and Activities that HawkFest was born, complete with various athletic events, family-friendly activities and Masses for alumni to attend.
From 2011 to 2013, all HawkFest events took place under tents set up in the Mandeville Hall parking lots. After the Alumni and Student Life partnership, celebrations were moved to the Maguire side of campus, where over 2,000 individuals could enjoy a Taste of Philly picnic held on Saturday.
“The concept is to create one big, fun weekend where we can celebrate St. Joe’s and invite every community that is associated with the institution,” Monaghan said.
Lynn Langnas, M.S., ’15, director of Alumni Programs, looks forward to the changes HawkFest brings each year.
“This year I’m very excited because we’re doing a lot more with our reunion years,” Langnas said. “We’re giving them [attendees] casinos, music and dancing to not only reconnect with classmates but also enjoy the atmosphere they’re in.”
The partnership with Student Life-and the inclusion of Family Weekend as part of the HawkFest celebration makes sense to Beth Hagovsky, Ed.D., director of Student Leadership and Activities, and Stacey Sottung, M.Ed., associate director, who shared a desire for current students to take advantage of all that HawkFest has to offer.
“Many students see events happening on campus but don’t know if it’s for them or not and won’t check it out,” Hagovsky said. “Some may think HawkFest is a first-year and last-year type of event, but it’s great for every year with fun for the whole family.”
One of the recently added events to HawkFest is the Young Alumni Beer Garden, which began in 2016. Connor Dehel ’15, assistant director of Alumni Networks and Brian Lafferty ’15, assistant director of Alumni Programs are mainly responsible for the event’s creation and growing popularity.
“It’s a neat opportunity that these alums are in the beer garden with other students they were in school with at the same time,” Dehel said. “This year we have almost 300 young alums signed up.”
HawkFest is also a wonderful opportunity for alumni like Anthony Carfagno ’60 to reminisce about their time spent on Hawk Hill.
“I’ve been attending HawkFest since it started in 2011 and each year I bring my wife, Evelyn,” Carfagno said. “My personal favorite feature was the year when a collection of different food trucks came to campus. Not only was it a smart move for the food business, but it made for a fun event.”
Regardless of which events are offered, HawkFest allows for the St. Joe’s community to come together each year and show that, much like the Hawk, the traditions here on campus will never die.