Every year, thousands of USF students storm parking lot 35 at the intersection of USF Holly and Genshaft for the annual Bullstock arts and music festival.

After months of preparation, Campus Activities Board’s (CAB) annual Bullstock festival will occur on April 14 from 7 to 11 p.m. with doors opening at 6 p.m and a novel nonstop music line up.

Bullstock – a tradition older than most undergraduate students – has been a recurring favorite since 1997, and has swiftly claimed its place as CAB’s signature event, according to Student Programs Coordinator Hannah Sutherland.

“It used to be more for local performers, but it’s grown into this bigger event where we get to bring all these professional artists and well-known celebrity musicians. Around 2012, it ended up becoming an event that we specifically did at the end of USF week to really end with a bang and have a really great time,” she said.

The headliners for this year’s show will be COIN, a pop-rock band from Tennessee, accompanied by Latin artist Lasso and pop-rock opener Sam Fisher. Interspersed with the performances of these celebrity artists will be the bands Hot Honey and 10-76, respective judge choice and audience choice winners from the Battle of the Bands competition hosted by USF on March 24.

As the conclusion of USF Week with upwards of a thousand attendees expected, the event will foster loyalty to both the school and enhance interconnectedness between the students, according to Sutherland.

“We see that a student feeling a connection to the university is supplemented by activities like this where we can bring people together,” Sutherland said. “We’ve gotten really great feedback about our artists so far, so we expect a really great turnout.”

Sutherland said Bullstock allows a social respite from the stresses of final exams and papers, which students will soon be facing.

“It’s a good opportunity for USF students to take a break, because we know that people who are happy, students who are happy, and having a good time and building a community with one another are going to do better in other facets of their higher education,” Sutherland said.

2023 Bullstock will be the first year in which CAB hopes to maintain a nonstop stage presence for all four hours. Performances will be constantly conducted all throughout the evening, according to Sutherland.

An exciting lineup of artists and constant musical stimulation are not the only appealing aspects of this year’s Bullstock. Sutherland said the lineup will also reflect USF’s diverse student population.

“I am really excited about this Bullstock because we are featuring a Latin artist, Lasso… we’ve got such a fantastic population of Latinx students here at USF. It just makes sense to have a Latin artist, and that is going to set us apart from previous years,” Sutherland said.

CAB has hired an extensive array of food trucks and will supply two carnival rides and mystery giveaways.

“Any person could come to this event and find something they like because there’s so many different genres of music, there’s rides if you’re not interested in the music, there’s great food. There are all sorts of things to do,” Sutherland said.

“It’s all about bringing the USF community together to have fun, to have safe fun and to enjoy some really great music with one another.”