The 28th annual Summerfest was held on Thursday to thank UC Berkeley staff members for their hard work and dedication during the past year.
Around 500 staff members gathered on the east side of Doe Library to enjoy live entertainment from the Platinum Status Band, lunch provided by Cal Dining and free t-shirts, ice cream, sunglasses and reusable shopping bags. Former chancellor Robert Birgeneau and current Chancellor Nicholas Dirks made a special appearance to hand out T-shirts to staff members.
Ellen Owens and Paul Oda, project managers in the UC Berkeley Capital Projects office, both came out to Summerfest to enjoy the live music and lunch.
“It’s always nice to be appreciated and get some good, free food,” Owens said. “The band was playing some great music.”
The first Summerfest was planned by the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee in 1986. Since then, it has been an annual day of staff appreciation event at UC Berkeley. This year, the celebration was expanded and became a weeklong event called Staff Appreciation Week.
Each weekday had a unique theme and events, such as “The Value of Saying Thank You” and “Acknowledging our Top Talent.” Staff members were given discounts at the Cal Student Store and Cal Dining all week, and each day had specific events, including campus tours, career coaching and lectures.
About 30 staff organizations and 13 community vendors such as UC Berkeley Retirement Center, Cal Performances, Google and Xerox had booths that lined the road on the east side of Doe Library. In addition, free bingo games and massages were offered to the staff for the entire afternoon.
Amanda Livesey, who works at Crossroads dining hall, enjoyed having lunch with her friend, Eileen Kumetat, an assistant pastry chef for Cal Dining. Both attended last year’s Summerfest and wanted to come again.
“I get to run into a lot of people on campus I don’t get to see otherwise,” Kumetat said. “A lot of time, it’s easy to forget how lucky we are to be employed here, and this is a good reminder of that and of how special Cal is.”
Contact Elise Aliotti at [email protected]