In typical St. Louis fashion, Monday’s weather was an inconvenience to all and a far cry from the warmth of the week before. Yet, neither rain nor sleet nor bitter coldness stopped the Volkswagen Major Motion Picture Show from taking place.
On Monday the Volkswagen of American Inc. road-trip brought its “Major Motion Picture Show” to the campus of Saint Louis University.
The touring mobile theater and activity village was on the Gonzaga Lot of the Frost Campus.
“The Major Motion Picture Show is an ideal avenue for us to promote our products and brand to our important college audience in a fun interactive way,” said Heidi Korte, manager of Volkswagen Promotions.
The Volkswagen Activity Village brought games, prizes, refreshments, Volkswagen products, merchandise and more to the SLU students.
Students who attended the event were given free food, T-shirts, Frisbees, Volkswagen magnetic poetry and much more.
The festival also featured a range of interactive activities, including a 25-foot inflatable rock-climbing wall, Beetle Adventure Racing, Midtown Madness video games and a virtual reality test-drive games that simulates the experience of being a Volkswagen driver.
“Rock climbing was like climbing Mount Everest,” said sophomore Nick Barnes, SAB member. “It was so cold, all it needed was a little snow.”
SLU students were given the opportunity to win a number of prizes, including the grand prize of a two-year lease on a Volkswagen GTI.
The event was moved indoors to the lower level of Busch Memorial Center due to the weather and to get more student participation. Even though many of the event activities were moved inside those that couldn’t move indoors remained outdoors.
“Today was a good mellow day catering to the Billikens. Although it was very cold outside, it went very well,” said Phil Ostermann, member of the Volkswagen tour.
Volkswagen does the shows around the country as a way to promote their certified pre-owned program.
The events at colleges are used as to allow students to know that they do have options to get a car without any credit history.
Sophomores Emily Weir and Joanna Charron said that it is nice that the companies would give students free stuff and talk to them seriously as potential customers for their products.
All members of the tour and students were in agreement that the event had better participation once it was moved indoors, away from the inclement weather.
“The event was affected by the weather and location,” said Alan Schiff, Dealer Liaison for The Tour.
“It was a wonderful day but not the normal volume of people that we normally get to meet and greet,” Schiff said.
The Tour ended with a showing of the Oscar-winning short feature film For the Birds followed by Monsters Inc. in Kelly Auditorium.
