Started in June of 2015, the student run event Hiller Fest has become a tradition at Hopkinton High School where people gather on field 9 for food, games, and live music.

The event is run by student council, and different clubs are invited to have tables with information about their particular club.

While entry to the event is free, some clubs sell food or other products to raise funds for their group.

Student council grills hamburgers and hot dog and sells water and candy at the event.

“I think it is a great event because it gets everyone really excited for the summer,” Junior Alexandra Lee said. “They had corn hole and a volleyball net set up, so it felt like a true summer day.”

Lee is an officer of the HHS Best Buddies chapter, and in 2015, the club brought a snow cone truck to the event.

“People seemed to love the snow cone truck because it was a really hot that day. We actually raised a lot of money at Hiller Fest that helped us pay for things that following year.”

The club Be Free had members perform at the event, but anyone interested in performing was encouraged to as well.

“Be Free set up a real stage and had awesome speakers. With everything going on, it felt like a little festival at our very own school,” Lee added.

The event started during the 2014-2015 school year because student council wanted to add a fun and free event.

“My freshman year, student council had leftover money from fundraisers during the school year, so we decided to create the event Hiller Fest,” Student Council President Zack Sisitsky said.

“The fact that our school puts such an emphasis on kids having fun events and opportunities to get involved in is something I love about HHS. When I was picking what college to go to, I wanted one that has tradition and events for students because of how much I have loved my time here,” Sisitsky said.

Jennifer Martel became one of the teacher advisers for student council during the 2014-2015 school year.

“What I find so unique about this event, is that it is purely student run,” Martel said.

“The event started my first year as an advisor, so we didn’t have anything to base it off of. Even though it made it a little harder to plan that first year, It allowed the students to really make the event their own.”

Student council spends several months planning this event. In former years, they decided to pay for a bouncy house with an obstacle course.

“I felt like a little kid sprinting through the course,” Student Council Secretary Rachel Gooley said. “Kids in every grade and even some staff climbed through that bouncy house.”

“So many people came up to me after and told me it was the most fun they had in a long time, so it made all the work we did really worth it.”

Last year, student council worked towards increasing the attendance of the event.

Student council vice president Caroline Murphy made a geofilter on snapchat for Hiller Fest to promote the event. Therefore, each snapchat posted at the event had the Hiller Fest brand logo on it.

“Everyone is always on snapchat, so I thought it would be a good way to get people to come. I heard that a lot of people ended up coming because they saw stories of friends having fun with the geofilter from the event,” Murphy said.

Also, members of student council hung posters all over the school and posted on different social medias to publicize the event.

In addition to getting the word out, student council spent a lot of time planning to ensure the event could continue regardless of the weather.

“Last year it started to rain halfway through the event. However, we had known this was possible and had everything all ready to be brought into the gym, so the event could continue,” Sisitsky said.

“The rain was no problem. The students had planned so diligently that they had a backup plan for everything,” Martel said.

Hiller Fest will be held on June 8th.

“We are going to encourage more clubs to rent food trucks because people really seem to enjoy them,” Murphy said.

“This will be one of the last events at HHS I am a part of which is obviously sad, but it makes it all the more special to me.”

“I was part of the student council that made this event possible in the first place, so it feels good to know I am leaving something special for future Hillers,” Sisitsky said.