Collegiate Times

It's that time of year again. quadfest, an annual massive party in Radford, clutches all corners of the city.

After driving down Tyler Avenue on a Saturday night toward Radford for a while, I was beginning to get skeptical. The road from the highway had offered little more than dark expanses of wood and scattered gas stations a couple hundred feet away from one another. More importantly, they were closed by the time I was in search of something to drink at around 11 p.m.

Everywhere I looked, there was no sign of festivities, no inclination of a city-wide party. Guided by my thirst, I stopped in a Food Lion further down the road. What greeted my eyes inside was a reaffirmation that I was on the right path. A large green sign stood in between the opposing automatic doors at the entrance and read "Kegs. Register 7" in big black lettering. Walking back to the car, iced coffee in hand, I spotted some Food Lion employees rolling out a cart with a keg resting on top of it, about to transfer this sizable amount of alcohol into the hands of eager youths awaiting in a white mini-van. I was close. As I continued on my course, the flat road peaked upward as I approached a hill. Like looking over the mountain ridge and first setting eyes on Canaan, Radford and Quadfest appeared in a flurry of lights and bodies as I made my descent past the crest of the hill. On the right was Radford University, its campus surprisingly calm and noticeably barren of activity, only traversed by those uninterested or who had already invested too heavily in the merriment.

The school formerly hosted the event on campus, but in recent years has abandoned the tradition.

"It started as a function on Radford University's campus," said Deputy Chief Angie Frye of the Radford Police at around 1 a.m. Sunday morning. "If I'm correct. It actually was an activity that it had, and the university stopped their involvement in that, and it's just kind of continued as what you see, and it's always remained Quadfest. As a matter of fact, when I started here years ago, it was called 'the beginning of the world party,' which was at the beginning of school, and the 'end of the world party,' which was a whole different clientele and different place it took place at."

When I find Frye, she is at the Radford Police's Incident Command Post in a parking lot behind the First Christian Church, in between Fairfax and Clement Street on the 1000 block. She has been at the post since noon on Saturday. The station's set up is a large white Sprinter trailer. Chairs and a table with snacks, food and Gatorade sit in front of it. Police cars and yellow barriers outline the perimeter. The purpose of the station is to provide local law enforcement with a convenient place to rest from patrolling as well as give the officers the advantage of a quicker response to a nearby emergency call. EMS is also standing by there.

Tonight, when officers are on patrol, most of the summons or arrests done will be alcohol related in some manner.

"We're probably going to see a lot more of open containers," Frye said, "or drinking in public and underage possession. Probably the open containers will probably be our biggest summons issued, probably your most arrests, but I don't even know at this point. I'm just guessing that you're going to have a lot of drunk in publics and disorderly conducts."

In the three hours that I stroll through Quadfest, I spot at least five different incidents where police appear and make arrests or issue summons.

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