This site uses javascript to implement some of its functionality. Please enable javascript in your web browser to ensure full functionality is available.
skip to content
University of Maine at Fort Kent

Latest News

Enrollment & Advancement Center • University of Maine at Fort Kent • 23 University Drive, Fort Kent, ME 04743

UMFK Foundation Dinner features Boogaloo Swamis on April 11

March 10, 2015

Note: this is an archived news release. As such, the information provided may no longer apply.

NR15019

 

(L to r back): Mickey Bones, Peter Weatherbee, Steve Bigelow and (front middle) Joes Kessler

 

In what many people see as the classiest sign of spring and the best destination to bring a date in the state of Maine, the University of Maine at Fort Kent Foundation will present its tenth annual dinner/performance fundraising event on Saturday, April 11, 2015 beginning at 5 p.m. With a musical celebration of local Acadian roots that is certain to pull concert goers out of their seats to dance in the aisles, the Boogaloo Swamis, a Cajun band, will provide this year's entertainment.

The annual dinner/performance is the Foundation's primary fundraising event of the year. The celebration brings together friends and family from the UMFK community, including staff, faculty, students, and community friends, who recognize the important contributions UMFK brings to the St. John Valley region and the state. The people who attend, from the local area as well as from away, help to support endowed scholarships and other campus investments that the University needs to continue its important work.

The annual event includes a social hour at 5 p.m. and five-course gourmet dinner beginning at 6 p.m., both in Nowland Hall. Aramark food services will cater the meal as a donation to the UMFK Foundation.

Following dinner, the evening's activities move to Fox Auditorium at 8:30 p.m., where the Boston-based award-winning Boogaloo Swamis will play their unique blend of Cajun, Zydeco, and New Orleans influenced rhythm and blues. Many critics call the Boogaloo Swamis the best Cajun band in the northeast, appealing to music lovers of all ages. According to World Rhythm Magazine, “When that driving beat starts up, every room turns into Mardi Gras - a joyful reunion of clapping, jumping, swinging people who are having the time of their lives. With their unique, mix of traditional Creole and Cajun elements along with the contemporary sounds of blues, funk and Afro-beat, the Boogaloo Swamis are taking Zydeco tradition into the future, and making friends everywhere they go.”

At 9:30 p.m. the evening will conclude with a post-performance dessert and champagne reception in the Nadeau Hall Conference Room.

Individual tickets and sponsorship opportunities for the dinner/performance fundraising event are available through the UMFK Development Office by calling 834-7800. Individual tickets for the performance only are also available.

The UMFK Foundation supports endowed scholarships and other funds, student research projects, faculty research awards, cultural events, library collections, other campus investments and special projects not budgeted for in the University's annual operating budget.