Arts and Entertainment

Keep on 'Movin' On'

Forty years later, music festival still going strong

Local favorite blues group Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band perform for the crowd at Penn State's Movin' On 1998. The event was attended by more than 10,000 people that year. Credit: Jennifer M. Stevens/Penn State La VieAll Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The end of the Spring semester at Penn State brings many things, among them warmer weather, study days, finals, graduation -- and Movin' On, one of the nation's largest student-run music festivals, annually held on the University Park campus.

A celebration of the "movin' on" of graduating seniors and advancing undergraduates, Movin' On began in 1975, with the Association of Residence Hall Students organizing a weeklong festival of activities that culminated in an outdoor concert featuring multiple local bands. By 1991, the event drew about 2,000 people. In 1998, more than 10,000 attended.

In 2010, Movin' On became a separate organization collaborating with various student groups and sponsors to provide a day of outdoor entertainment in a substance-free environment, free of charge and open to the public. The event has been held in various locations including the HUB lawn, Pollock Field and the Intramural field.

Movin' On will mark its 40th anniversary this Friday, May 1, starting at 3:30 p.m. and running through 10:30 p.m., in the Park Avenue Lot 12 of the Blue Band Field. Everyone is welcome.

Last Updated May 1, 2015

Contact