Spring Fling: Alumni Recall the Magic of Spring at UMass Amherst
With warmer days, sunny skies, and the campus creeping back to life after a long winter, spring is finally in the air! We asked our alumni to share some of their favorite things about spring at UMass Amherst and here’s what they had to say.
Some recalled the joy of spending time outside after the cold winter:
When the warm spring weather appeared, we girls enjoyed spreading blankets or towels on the grass behind Knowlton House to enjoy the sunshine while doing some homework and chatting with each other. —Jean A. Lacey ‘63
Grabbing a smoothie at the Blue Wall and hanging out on the campus steps. —Rae Scott ‘09
You might be able to walk by the library and not get blown away!
—Klyde Siegfriedt ‘80
Our annual “Mass Grass“ picnic that Pi Lambda Phi held at Look Park. Grilled steaks and softball were always the big parts of the day. —Don Green ‘80
Fearing Street beach! (back in the day) —Mark Scholefield ‘83
Image courtesy of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian
The annual tradition of “Spring Day” at UMass. Not sure if kids still celebrate it. Chapel bells would ring the first Tuesday of May at 12 noon and what seemed like the entire student body would congregate at Puffers Pond or to the end zone side of Alumni Stadium by the flagpole.—David Katz ‘71
Anything outside after the winter! My favorite: a picnic in the quad with friends and tossing a frisbee around with [friends]! —Chris Comack ‘09
Swimming and beach parties at Puffers Pond! —Jane Gould O’Sullivan ‘83
Amherst Record Photograph Collection, Jones Library Special Collections
Lots of people had fond memories of the spring concert:
I used to love going to all the free outdoor concerts and my friends' art shows (painting and graphic design majors!) —Rosalie Tirella ‘86
1990s campus spring concerts and Dinosaur Jr. —Michelle Crouse Geoghegan ‘94
Spring Concert, baby! —Nick Triano ‘83
Mass Grass by the Campus Pond the year that Taj Mahal and Buffy Sainte-Marie sang on a sunny day. —Linda ‘72 & Marc ‘71 Hildebrant
The annual Pond Concerts . —Scott Allen ‘93
The Pond Concert! —Sacha Helfand Carey ‘93
Others remembered the beauty of color creeping back into campus as the plants bloomed:
The tulips when they are all in full bloom. —Erica Shultz Battistoni (UMass staff)
The gentle green that slowly steals across the campus. —Mary Ellen Mackin ‘70
Budding and flowering trees and seeing Jerry Seinfeld a LONG time ago at FAC during Southwest Week! $2 ticket. —Peter Lamothe ‘93
The smells of everything blooming, the green vegetation! —Patricia Gonnella ‘72
The beautiful trees. —Lori B. Richards ‘02
The baby geese in the pond. —Liz Southworth Lima ‘04
The swans…beautiful and evil attackers lol —Michelle Crouse Geoghegan ‘94
