In 1985, Cal State Long Beach President Stephen Horn called for the university to showcase its campus and raise awareness of its place within the Long Beach community.
And so the first Kaleidoscope came to fruition, becoming an annual festival and open house event that attracts almost 30,000 men, women and children each year.
A mixture of more than 200 exhibits with games, rides, hands-on demonstrations and food and retail booths will be on display for this Saturday’s 21st Kaleidoscope.
Sponsored by students, staff, faculty, community groups and local businesses and government agencies, the festival helps to showcase the kaleidoscope that is CSULB.
“This festival is really all about what the university represents and it’s designed to show the many different multicolors, shapes and services that CSULB has to offer, hence the name Kaleidoscope,” said Kaleidoscope Logistics Coordinator David Sanfilippo.
Sanfilippo knows all too well about the variety of events and displays on the big day – he’s been with the program since its conception in 1985.
“We only had about 5,000 people at Kaleidoscope in its first year, and we really had no idea what we were doing,” he said.
The idea to open the campus to the community and create Kaleidoscope came at the expense of the 49er Days, CSULB’s main event in the years leading up to 1985.
49er Days saw a traditional Western gold mining town erected on campus, with visitors dressing up as cowboys and Native Americans to recreate the time of the discovery of gold in the 1849 California Gold Rush.
With this idea wearing out in the 1980s, President Horn’s call for a showcase of CSULB was picked up by Kaleidoscope Director Leland Vail, who believed that a fresh new approach was necessary to draw in more visitors.
“So we came up with the idea of Kaleidoscope … I thought this sort of event would represent the campus makeup far more than one significant historical event in Californian history 100 years ago,” Vail said.
Today, using more than 67 acres of campus, 1,000 chairs, three miles of extension cords and 70 food and retail booths, Kaleidoscope transforms the entire campus for one day.
Pushcart races, Engineering Day, the International Food Stand, Children’s Day and the Medieval Renaissance Faire (complete with a real-life catapult) are just some of the many features of this year’s event.
Now in its 21st year (there was no Kaleidoscope in 1987 and 1993 due to budget cuts), organizers continue to see new sponsors and businesses scrambling to be a part of the festival.
New faces at the festival this year will include the local Saturday Night Magazine, the energy drink Crunk!!!, insurance company Geico and fruit juice vendor Tropical Islands.
Kaleidoscope 2008 will see 96 on-campus-related student organizations, Greek organizations and campus departments all on display.
A further 60 off-campus local businesses, food vendors, artisans and government agencies will also set up booths for Saturday’s event,
With a total of 156 groups, clubs and businesses on display, it’s a far cry from the 75 to 80 organizations that participated in Kaleidoscope in its early years.
“We started growing and attracting people not only from Long Beach but from around the country and brought in community vendors and non-profit organizations … we were bursting at the seams,” said Kaleidoscope Coordinator John-David Minjares.
Minjares, in his first year as coordinator, also highlighted the importance of Kaleidoscope on the CSULB calendar and within the community.
“This is the school’s chance to show the community what CSULB has to offer … it’s basically to promote awareness of the campus and give the different student clubs and organizations the chance to showcase their work and raise money,” Minjares said. “This is CSULB’s biggest event on campus for the entire year … it comes down to this one event on this one day of the year to really show off the campus. You don’t really get that opportunity normally.”
Vail also spoke of the significance behind Kaleidoscope and the role it played it bringing Long Beach together.
“We’re right smack in the east side of Long Beach, and usually it’s a fortress to get into campus with parking on weekdays and everything,” Vail said. “But for one day, parking is free and the city of Long Beach can come together, it’s really a great way to share the campus with everyone.
“It’s been great throughout the years to see the kids’ faces, running about enjoying themselves … it’s just the faces of the families who are having a good time that makes it worthwhile,” Sanfilippo said.
Kaleidoscope also helps to attract a large number of CSULB alumni back to the campus to revisit and reunite with some former classmates.
“The alumni have their own pavilion and we have thousands of them that come back every year to show their families around and enjoy the festivities,” Vail said.
Kaleidoscope has also paved the way for other universities in the Southern California area to follow suit and showcase their own campuses.
“I know that there are other colleges in Southern California that want to emulate Kaleidoscope, or start a festival under their own name,” Minjares said.
The future of the Kaleidoscope looks positive as well, with plans to expand across the campus and cover all areas.
“My overall goal is to create this event so that it is always expected from the Long Beach community,” Minjares said. “I want to keep growing and growing, and get across the campus even more and make more use of the room we have.”
