Program Board is holding Fall Fest two weeks earlier than usual due to scheduling conflicts.

The annual event, which will feature three bands, free giveaways and food for 2,500 people, will be held on Saturday and will cap off Welcome Week festivities, scheduled to end Friday night.

“We felt it would be incorrect to hold Fall Fest on Sept. 11, and the following weekend would have conflicted with a Jewish holiday,” senior Eric Weigand, PB’s executive director, said. “We didn’t want to hold the event in October or August, so we made it a part of Welcome Week and planned the event for September 4.”

The event, PB’s second largest of the year behind Spring Fling, will be held on University Yard at 5 p.m. Previous Fall Fests were held solely in the afternoon.

This year’s event is being held later in the day to attract more students, Weigand said. About 2,200 students attended last year’s event, which was held in the Smith Center due to inclement weather. Weigand said he hopes these changes will make the event better.

“We’re trying the Fall Fest later in the day this year to open more people up to the event,” he said. “Now you have no reason to turn your back on free food, tee shirts and corporate giveaways.”?

At the event, students can enjoy a rock climbing wall, free barbeque and a carnival-like atmosphere with three musical performers: the Pat McGee Band, Matt Nathanson, and Last Week, a GW student band.?

Members of the Student Activities Center said this year’s Welcome Week will also be bigger and better, thanks to three extra days of festivities, daily events and an expansion of the festivities to the Mount Vernon Campus.

“Welcome Week is coordinated with move-in week as a way for GW to welcome students back to campus by offering a wide range of events and activities to get new students aquatinted with GW,” said Marisa Tjerandsen, SAC’s assistant director of student involvement.

Headlining this year’s Welcome Week is former Daily Show correspondent and colorful political commentator Mo Rocca, who will be performing Friday at 8 p.m. in Lisner Auditorium. “Saturday Night Live” star Seth Myers and “the 7-Up guy,” Godfrey, performed Tuesday night at the Smith Center.

Myers opened up, poking fun at his aversion to college juniors because of old girlfriends in their third year of school that never called him back. He also questioned how a hippo ended up being the mascot for the Colonials.

Godfrey followed Myers and performed to the crowd, which was 1,000 people short of a sellout crowd of around 5,000. Tickets to the event cost $15.

While ticket sales for one of Welcome Week’s main events were not as high as expected, SAC officials said they felt positive about the show’s success.

“Honestly, it’s really hard to predict what students want to see,” Tjerandsen said. “Do I wish more students were here to enjoy this event? Yes. Am I disappointed about the amount of sales, no.”

She added, “This is a great show regardless of how many people are here.”