Special edition: St. Fratty's recap

Author

Carly Heltzel
March 17, 2025

Good morning. It’s Monday, and I’m watching all the videos reporters gathered from every corner of St. Fratty’s Day celebrations. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

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St. Fratty’s Recap

After almost every Morning, Mustang subject line last week was dedicated to St. Fratty’s, I figured it would be good to get this recap out of the way. Of course, if there are more worthy updates later in the week you’ll be the first to know.

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The Concert

Overall, students viewed it as a success. While the early morning vibes were a bit off with quiet music, a frat DJ and very few people showing up before 5 a.m., the festival gained momentum when Swedish DJ Galantis took the stage. Now, that momentum was largely due to the hoards of people in the waitlist line crowd pushing their way through the border fences and police officers to flood into the field around 6:10 a.m. Shortly after, a crowd crush started taking shape once more and the police opened the concert to let the blob of students in. By 7 a.m. the gates were fully open. 

Between Galantis’ set and headliner ZHU, a band with bagpipes came out and performed for a good 20 minutes. Very festive, but by minute five it was a bit hard on the ears.

The concert ended 30 minutes early after technical difficulties with ZHU’s set, so he left at 8:30 a.m. ZHU left the stage by saying “Cal Poly…” (30 second pause) “Have a great day” (exits).

University President Jeffrey Armstrong said there was minimal on campus damage, especially in comparison to last year’s dorm fiasco. The Lower Sports Complex field were pretty torn up, though. 

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The Block Party

By 7 a.m. there were an estimated 300 people gathering at or around Hathaway Avenue to form a block party, or at least an attempt at one. A heavy police presence kept revelers off the streets and onto the sidewalks creating an awkwardly shaped group of people standing there.

Videos show police bikes stopping people and turning them around or yelling through the loudspeaker when partiers left the confines of the sidewalk. People interviewed by one news outlet called the gathering “lame” in comparison to last year’s 6,000-person raucous street party. There were multiple attempts to move the block party to different street corners in an attempt to ditch the police, only to be followed.

By 8 a.m., when the concert started losing its crowds (thanks, bagpipes) and many students wandered over to Hathaway, police were demanding that students disperse. One said on a loudspeaker: “go home or you get arrested.”

Only four people were arrested in the entirety of the event, all for public intoxication. City leaders and neighbors said they were happy with the largely successful efforts to shut down street partying.  

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Information compiled from the following sources: