"Knollfest", a 12-hour arts and music festival, was held on October 4, 2008, in the 700 and 800 block of Berkley Place, located south of Butler University. The inaugural student charity event was named for the grassy knoll covering the street in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood.

Butler University seniors Lade Akande and Dylan Riley organized the event as an independent student business project to promote arts in the community through culture, music and education. Akande envisioned the event last spring. "I had an idea about creating a music festival and Dylan went further to help develop it and make it happen. Many volunteers, including our classmates and friends assisted," she explained. Her internship at NUVO magazine provided her contacts in the community, like Kim Lewis from the American Pianists Association, who helped them organize the event. Lewis has organized the Indy Jazz Fest as well.

"I was heavily influenced by my involvement in orchestra during high school, so it is personally important to me that arts programs continue to grow," said Riley, who is an Indianapolis native. "I wanted to organize an event like this as a way of giving back to the community while also gaining support and awareness on a greater scale," he emphasized. Riley and Akande are marketing majors in Butler University's School of Business.

Proceeds from Knollfest will benefit the following Indianapolis Public Schools arts programs: Mary E. Nicholson Performing Arts Academy at School 70, Arsenal Technical High School, Broad Ripple High School, Eastwood Middle School and Shortridge Middle School. Butler University's athletics department and Robinson High School, located in Robinson, Illinois, will also receive funds.

The family-oriented event featured bands, artists and food vendors from around the Indianapolis area. Among the local groups who performed at Knollfest were violin virtuoso Cathy Morris and her brother, Daryl Spurlock, who played keyboards during their musical set that opened Knollfest.

Other musical performances were from Hyryder, The Macpodz, Oreo Jones, Out of the Dawg House (a Butler University male cappella group), Re(Collective) dance ensemble, the Sean Imboden Quintet, Shaggy Wonda, Trenton Van Plummer's Circus of Strings and The Twin Cats. There was also a beer and wine garden that opened at 4 p.m. during the festival, whose attendance increased after the Bulldogs upset Pioneer Football League rival Drake 21-15 at the Butler Bowl.

Food vendors were Da Blue Lagoon, King David Dogs and Hot Box Pizza. Among the menu items were Bar-B-Q pork, charcoal steakburgers, chicken fingers, Italian rope sausage, Polish sausage and tenderloins with ice cream being available for dessert.

Sponsors of Knollfest included NUVO Magazine, Facebook, Interactive Intelligence, Ripple Bagel Deli, Dual Tech Services, Rural King, Midwest Transport, First Robinson Savings Bank, Robinson High School and the Daily News of Robinson, Illinois.

In addition to live music, there was face and mural painting, ballroom and swing dance instruction, sand art and a coloring station. Tie-die Knollfest shirts and Glagla shoes were also sold during the festival.

In utilizing their marketing skills to promote an art and music event, Lade Akande and Dylan Riley have given back to local arts programs as they prepare to apply their business knowledge beyond their forthcoming graduation from Butler University.