Many San Jose State community members expressed joyous relief about reconnecting with peers at the university’s 14th annual “Fire on the Fountain” Thursday night.
While the homecoming tradition was cancelled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of people gathered on Tower Lawn from 4-9 p.m.
International business junior Anika Puri said it was her second time at Fire on the Fountain since attending her freshman year.
“It reminds me of high school in the sense that everyone comes out and has this spirit and there’s this whole atmosphere of everyone coming together,” Puri said.
The event featured an alumni social, student organization fair, student performers and a pyrotechnics show followed by the homecoming court announcement.
Puri said she enjoys the Fire on the Fountain performances because they portray a wide variety of cultures, reflecting SJSU’s diverse campus.
Some performances included Spartan WUSHU, a contemporary Chinese performance based martial art, Korean Entertainment Club, the Sikh Student Association, Spartan Mambo and Grupo Folklorico.
The Sirens of Sparta, SJSU’s competitive dance team, was the first to perform.
Eve Garibay, Sirens of Sparta member and communications freshman, said Thursday was her first time performing in years.
“It’s really thrilling,” Garibay said. “The last time I performed I was a junior in high school, so it’s been a really long time.”
Marketing junior Saul Mendez said he didn’t have a favorite performer but he was excited to attend Fire on the Fountain for the first time.
“I think the performance was just impeccable so I give them all a 10 out of 10,” Mendez said.
He said the biggest benefit of this event was having students, faculty and others be a part of the university community and show their school spirit.
“Everybody was having so much fun and it’s a great way to finish midterms as well,” Mendez said.
Ikaika Rapanot, Associated Students director of co-curricular affairs, said the event planning began in August and required multiple A.S. committees’ involvement.
“All the departments of A.S. just got together and wanted to collaborate and work with recognized student organizations to give this community back what it needs to have,” Rapanot said.
The evening-long event had giveaways and free food for students including a taco truck. The A.S handed out blue and gold shirts that said, “Homecoming 2021 Return of the Spartans.”
Other student organizations present were the SJSU Quidditch Club and departments on campus including the Chicanx/Latinx Student Success Center.
Tony Lopez, quidditch club president and English senior, said this was the first time the club tabled at Fire on the Fountain even though they’ve been on campus since 2014.
Lopez said the club joined in hopes of gaining 15-20 new members.
“Coming back to campus has been a little hard for recruitment,” Lopez said. “But I feel like Fire on the Fountain is a good opportunity for us.”
Brianna Navarrete, social work sophomore and Chicanx/Latinx center’s student success leader, said she hoped having a table at the event would bring more Latinx and Chicanx students together.
“I’m so happy to be here and to be able to be a part of this,” Navarrete said.
Around 8 p.m., professional fire dancers came on stage and twirled rings of fire while dancing to rock and pop songs. The performers breathed fire as the crowd cheered.
Kristy Fortes, a performer from Infinite Spin Performing Arts, and Organic Pyrotechnic performer Ian Plimmer were part of the fire show.
The headliner group was hired by the university to perform at Fire on the Fountain.
“I think what we do is really unique with the fire performance style,” Plimmer said.
Fortes and Plimmer both said they were excited to be able to perform in front of a crowd again, especially in such a big event.
SJSU President Mary Papazian made an appearance on stage and encouraged everyone to attend the homecoming game.
The event concluded with football players, the marching band, SJSU’s Spartan Spectrum Dance Team and Sirens of Sparta coming on stage and rallying the crowd with school spirit for Friday’s homecoming game.
The four finalists for the 2021 Homecoming court were also announced at the end of the event.
Fire on the Fountain ended with fireworks around 9 p.m. to celebrate the closing of one of SJSU’s biggest events of the year.
Eve Garibay said school events including Fire on the Fountain are critical for making connections at SJSU.
“I think these [events] are really important to have a sense of community with my peers, people that I haven't been able to ever get to meet,” Garibay said. “I may not take the same classes as them or have the same schedules, where they may commute so they're not on campus as much.”
