MinerPalooza going virtual for 30 year celebration
EL PASO, Texas -- A pandemic isn’t going to stop UTEP from celebrating their biggest back to school celebration. For the first time in it's thirty year history, Minerpalooza is going virtual.
“Something that started off in the parking lot on campus, now 30 years later, has grown to having 25 to 30,000 people,” said Nicole Aguilar, Director of Student Engagement/Leadership Center at UTEP. “We knew that when Minerpalooza was coming up and conversation of how we were going to execute it came up, we talked about can we have this and if we do what would that look like?”
This year's celebration will be a two part virtual celebration that will start with a pre-show broadcast online at Minerpalooza.com this Friday, Sept. 4 at 8 p.m.
“We have student organizations, the pep rally, the parade, UTEP cheer and dance marching all the way down to the stage where we see then Dr. Wilson and athletes and coaches,” said Aguilar.
During the pre-show, viewers will get to experience several elements as they would at Minerpalooza in person, but the virtual celebration will also allow miner fans to experience new things such as a video on the history of UTEP's biggest back-to-school celebration.
“This is a great opportunity for us to tap into the history of Minerpalooza and hear from one of the creators himself and how this all started,” said Aguilar.
“House Parties” hosted by a UTEP student, staff, and two alum will also be a new and exciting feature this year.
“Our MC kinda crashes some house parties and you’ll get to see what other UTEP Miners are doing and how they’re celebrating Minerpalooza,” said Aguilar.
Once the virtual pre-show celebration is over, Miner fans can turn on their TV’s and enjoy a concert from home featuring Country artist Jon Pardi.
“We just played like we were playing for people. It’s hard not to get the crowd going but lots of shout outs to minerpalooza," said Pardi.
Pardi will perform a 50 minute concert at 9 p.m. on the El Paso/Las Cruces CW.
“I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun for the viewers and for the audience and kinda just see everything from a different lens but still hopefully celebrate with us, history,” said Aguilar.
