It is not every day that Marty’s is home to live singing, rapping, stand-up comedy, and musical instruments – but this past Wednesday was different. With its many participants both on and off stage, Open Mic Night in Marty’s this year was special for spectators and performers alike.

The night kicked off at 6:30 p.m. on September 29 with scheduled performances, then ended with a few impromptu performances from audience members who were inspired by their peers. The night concluded with a stand-up comedy performance by Professor of Management Rob Larson.

Not only is the Open Mic Night a regular event for Homecoming, it is also the most attended SAC event all year. SAC Chair Rachel Lummis (‘23) does not have a definite answer on why this event is so popular, but she theorized that the popularity of the event is related to the fact that Luther is a music school, since most of the acts are traditionally musical.

“It gives the performers an opportunity to share their love of music, even if they’re not involved directly with music on campus,” Lummis said. “I know that some of our performers said that they did choir in high school and things like that, and they miss performing; but they don’t actually have the time or they don’t want to have the commitment at Luther. I think that’s kind of fun.”

Performers Cassandra Hultgren (‘24) and Maddy Young (‘24) are no strangers to Luther’s musical side. As singers in Nordic Choir, the duo switched music genres to sing the hit pop song “July” by Noah Cyrus. Despite being an experienced singer, Young still gets nervous to perform in front of others, and was very impressed by the spontaneity of the crowd to get on stage and perform in front of their peers without notice.

“It was so cool,” Young said. “Just because I knew a ton of people were singers, or just like performers, but I had never seen it.”

As the performances went on, a table at the edge of the Marty’s dancefloor gave a panel of four judges a clear view of the stage. Ben Pavlis (‘23) was anticipating being an audience member for the event, but ended up serving as a judge. Pavlis had not attended this particular Homecoming event before, and was very impressed with the talent displayed by the performers.

“I think the most surprising [act] was [David Herrick (‘23)], who sang all of the countries in order,” Pavlis said. “It stood out to me, it was different from the rest of [the performers], but I admired [everyone] a lot for what they did,” Pavlis said.

After the event, there was only one complaint that Lummis heard from the crowd — why does this event only happen once a year?