Students and Binghamton locals raved together Friday night at the Shut Down Binghamton Flash Rave, an event hosted by ChangeOver Binghamton.

Held at the Metro Center Downtown, the rave featured student and guest DJ’s who played a variety of dubstep, hip hop and house music that kept the party going for a crowd of more than 50 from 8-9 p.m.

ChangeOver Binghamton is an organization founded by Binghamton University students over the summer.

Christopher Paquette, a co-founder and president of the group, said that the new student housing Downtown led him to believe the influx of students could help rebuild Binghamton’s economy.

“Through my four years as an undergrad here, I’ve been involved in a variety of community engagement projects and programs, including CIC 2020 which is a student led economic think-tank that makes suggestions for ways to improve downtown,” Paquette, a first-year graduate student studying biomedical engineering, wrote in an email. “That experience really opened up my eyes to the potential for the city of Binghamton to leverage all of its assets (from the University to downtown businesses) to really revitalize and build a healthy, vibrant downtown economy and scene.”

The flash rave coincided with October’s First Friday, a monthly art exhibition held Downtown.

Jonathan Shapiro, a junior majoring in financial economics, said the flash rave was a nice change to the normal Downtown routine.

“The flash rave was a really refreshing event for Downtown Binghamton,” Shapiro said. “We’re all so used to the bar scene Downtown, so it’s nice to see a different scene also happening.”

Shapiro added that the restaurant discounts going on as a part of First Friday added to the evening.

“Dinner and a rave is a perfect Friday evening for me,” Shapiro said. “It was great to see all the local food stops were promoting and giving discounts. Well done by the event organizers.”

Linnea Hall, a sophomore majoring in accounting, attended the flash rave and took advantage of the reduced prices at Sips of Seattle, a cafe that participated in the First Friday discounts.

Paquette said that ChangeOver Binghamton is beginning plans for their next event, which will take place at the end of October.

“I don’t want to give away too much, but all I’m going to say is prepare for a BIG thing happening at the end of this month,” Paquette wrote. “Our project may redefine how Binghamton–and even the world–builds communities and exchanges ideas.”