This upcoming Saturday, April 17, Binghamton University’s own WHRW 90.5 FM will be hosting its fan-favorite Moefest live on its website and live on air. The last time Moefest took place in person was in 2019 before the radio station was forced to cancel its in-person plans for the festival. In May 2020, Amber Cherichetti, a DJ at WHRW and a junior majoring in English, turned Moefest into a virtual event inside the game Minecraft and on Discord. This time around, Moefest won’t be back to the full capacity that students remember and love, but the team at WHRW is committed to putting together a livestreamed music event and creating the best event possible.

Rebecca Appel, music director at WHRW and a sophomore majoring in human development, has been organizing this year’s event since September and is determined to make sure that the organization’s setup will adhere to COVID-19 safety guidelines. Performers and volunteers will be present in the office at a limited capacity.

“It has been a struggle between making sure everything is COVID-19-safe,” Appel wrote in an email. “We have done extensive research to make sure everyone performing and volunteering will be safe. In fact, 90 percent of all in-person participants at Moefest will be vaccinated.”

The tradition of Moefest serving as a platform for BU student performers is still prevalent in this year’s lineup, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19. Among the local groups and acts performing on Saturday are the band BUG, composed of BU students, old-school hip-hop artist The Supreme Soup and punk band DIRTYBANDAID.

While local and student groups are an important part of what Moefest is about, WHRW has been able to land some notable headliners for this year’s show. This year, the station has tapped New York City artist LVA GRL and the band Laveda from Troy, New York to do the honors.

Appel thinks that groups like these bring to the table a unique combination of the familiar and the new.

“I actually know LVA GRL from high school,” Appel wrote. “We have played at a bunch of local shows together when we were teenagers.”

Most importantly, despite everything going on in the University, the team at WHRW is excited to be bringing Moefest to students, and hope that others feel the same way.

“Moefest is near and dear to WHRW culture,” Appel wrote. “[And we’re just] so excited to bring it on [to the] online format.”

Moefest will be held this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with music from a variety of local and independent artists from many different genres. Limited numbers of performers and volunteers will be able to attend in person, but everyone else can tune into the livestream at whrw.fm/Moefest or on the radio at 90.5 FM.