The International Festival, held from 11 am to 2 pm, was a veritable smorgasboard of different cultures, filling the McNeil Room to the brim and spilling out into the rest of the second floor of the Union.

Student groups representing multitudinous cultures had display tables featuring artifacts, clothing, information sources, and—most importantly—food representing the people behind the name on the sign.

The food was, of course, the biggest hit of the event. Attendees sampled bubble tea from the Korean table, buttercheese and liverwurst on bread at the German table, flan (everybody loves flan) from the Alianza Latina table, beef pockets from the Black Students’ Alliance table, and a whole lot more. The food wasn’t free, but the prices were very reasonable.

In addition to all the display tables, several groups put on performances on the McNeil Room’s dance floor. HELLAS, the Greek organization, had some particularly impressive dancers who were decked out in black jackets with gold trim as they demonstrated some subtle and energetic footwork. The Chinese fan dance was a spectacle of flowing beauty.

By the time the International Festival ended at 2 pm, the Fall Fest just outside was in full swing. There were a few “strolling performers” (according to the program), in other words jugglers, clowns on stilts, etc. There was an Orbitron, which is essentially a large gyroscope with a place for a person to stand in the middle of it and have the living daylights spun out of them.

Many other groups also had tables under the white tents on the Union lawn and Sage Avenue, including WRPI, IPAC, APO—which served free caramel apples covered in a variety of toppings that were absolutely delicious—Habitat for Humanity, the Society of Physics Students, and more.

Under the largest tent was a series of performances, first by The Waldo Woodhead Show, then the three student a cappella groups, and then a professional a cappella group called Toxic Audio. The latter stole the show, got on a boat with it, and has no plans of returning it.

Toxic Audio seemed to turn the art of a cappella itself up to super reverb. Their energy was astounding. In one of their phenomenal acts, the Toxins began singing “Paperback Writer,” then in the middle of the song they extended the bridge while two members went out with paperback novels and had audience members select random words, which Toxin Jeremy James, a.k.a. Rap Master, incorporated into a completely improvised rap.

Toxic Audio also had in their hand Paul Sperrazza, who lived up to his moniker of the Human Beat Box. In a finale of Gloria Stefan’s “Turn the Beat Around,” (which was bursting with pure explosive vocal power) he had an entire drum set in his throat.

The Toxins were not lacking for humor either. One song saw the three male members dressed as *NSync singing a song about a very ugly girl (“The ugly tree fell on you/That’s a lot of wood”). Another took the popular and amusing “Mahnamahna” Muppet sketch to an entirely new level, with group founder Rene Ruiz (“Boss Bass Man”) playing the ostracized performer with a solitary line and really hamming it up.