Between classes, department emails, Campus Groups notifications, and the flyer pile-up outside the dining hall, it’s easy to let some of the best events on campus slip by unnoticed. Here’s a shortlist: the events that return every year, worth putting on your calendar before they get buried again.
Fall Semester
1.
September: Husky Fest
Husky Fest lines up student groups, university departments, and local organizations — tables and all — ready to meet you. Expect fun activities, lawn games, plenty of free food, and a decent shot at finding a club or resource you didn’t know existed. Whether it’s your first-year or you’re about to graduate, there’s a table here worth stopping at.
2.
September: Fall Fest and Casino Night
Homecoming Weekend goes outdoors for Fall Fest — games, music, food, that first real cold-air afternoon of the season — then indoors for Casino Night once the sun’s down. Parents, siblings, alumni, all welcome; give your loved ones a peek into college life for a weekend.
3.
October: Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration
This is a celebration built around Indigenous musicians, storytellers, and artists — expect live performances, storytelling, and hands-on art throughout the afternoon. Can’t make it? You can still take part: the dining hall runs a specially themed menu for the day, no RSVP required.
4.
November: Maine’s Afrochella
Student-led and now in its fourth year, Afrochella is organized by USM’s Women of Color Board with support from the Recovery Oriented Campus Center. Fashion, music, dance, and poetry fill the night, blending African, Caribbean, and African American traditions — the product of months of student-run planning. Past organizers have described it as one of the only spaces on campus where students can show up in their cultural dress and be fully seen, less a performance than a shared act of belonging built by students from a wide range of backgrounds.
5.
December & April: Stress Relief Week
It lands at exactly the moments students need it most: the week before finals each semester, when the workload piles up and burnout sets in. A built-in excuse to step away from studying for a few minutes without any guilt attached. The lineup shifts semester to semester — past spring editions have included baby goat cuddle time, which is about as good an argument as any for showing up.
Spring Semester
1.
February: WMPG’s Cajun Cookin’ Challenge
A Mardi Gras tradition run by WMPG, USM’s community radio station. Local restaurants and caterers cook up some incredible Cajun dishes, live music plays through the afternoon, and the whole thing has the feel of a neighborhood block party more than a university event. A parade runs straight through the middle of it — trumpets, drums, every horn you can think of — enough Bourbon Street energy to make you forget you’re still in Maine.
2.
March: Banned Book Fair
Held in partnership with the University Store, this isn’t just a book sale — each title comes with context on why it was banned in the first place, which turns a quick browse into something that actually makes you think. Treats from a local business round it out.
3.
April: Culture Fest
Expect an evening filled with dance, music, food, and hands-on activities representing the range of cultures on campus — international fashion and talent shows have been part of the mix in past years. Built entirely by students showcasing the traditions, poetry, and music they carry from home — a night that’s as much about community as it is about culture.
4.
April: Spring Fling
The reward at the end of a long year: the first real taste of warm weather, food trucks from local businesses, and giant inflatables before the grind of finals kicks in. Pure last-hurrah energy before everyone scatters to study.
Consider this your head start. The rest is about showing up and finding out why these are the events people keep coming back for year after year.
