This year’s Bulldog Bash is shaping up to be bigger than ever before.
The budget for the Sept. 10 event is expected to be nearly twice that of last year’s, said Student Association President Adam Telle. The Student Association has already raised $50,000 for the festival, and he expects the final figure to be nearly $60,000, he said.
The city of Starkville pledged its support for the festival during a Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday. The mayor and aldermen authorized the use of city police supervision, electricity and waste services for the event.
Bulldog Bash is an annual festival that has drawn thousands of people to the Cotton District for music, food, drinks and fellowship.
Telle said he wants this year to be even better than last year’s. “We’re really trying to go to the next level,” he said.
The SA has not booked an event headliner yet, Telle said, but the festival usually features about eight musical acts. Several local bands perform along with one or two nationally known artists.
Negotiations with rock band Switchfoot, which would have headlined the event, fell through, Telle said.
The Bash will fall on the weekend of the Mississippi State/Auburn football game, Head Coach Sylvester Croom’s first SEC game at MSU.
At last year’s Bash, which fell on the weekend of the Mississippi State/Louisiana State football game, an estimated 20,000 people roamed the Cotton District with cups of beer from Roxie’s Square Table Spoon and Bulldog Deli. They munched on sandwiches, turkey legs and barbecued ribs from the different food vendors.
Edwin McCain and Will Hoge riled the crowd with covers of The Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and Rod Stewart’s “Roxanne.”
Most of the money used to hire the bands comes from sponsors, said SA external events coordinator Chrissie Prichard.
The festival goers will inevitably leave cans, bottles, cups and wrappers strewn throughout the Cotton District.
Although the city pledged waste disposal services, members of the SA will be doing much of the dirty work. In 2003, SA workers stayed out several hours after the festival picking up trash and collecting garbage cans.
Telle said this year he expects workers to be finished around 7 a.m. Saturday.
Alderman Frank Davis commended the SA for refining the production of the festival from year to year.
“Y’all are getting better and better organized, and we appreciate that,” he said.
In exchange for its support, the city of Starkville’s logo will be placed on Bulldog Bash banners and T-shirts.