Veishea coordinators have set up a survey on their Web site for students to give feedback on this year’s spring celebration.

The survey allows students to name bands they would like to see play Veishea Center Stage at the annual student-run event.

“One of our goals this year is to make the entertainment selection process more open to students, and we’re trying to do this through student input on our Web site,” said Kathy Craig, Veishea co-chair.

Craig, senior in finance and Spanish, said last year’s band, The Black Eyed Peas, was not met with the amount of enthusiasm the Veishea entertainment committee had hoped for.

Eric Yarwood, assistant manager of programs for Veishea, said the responsibility of finding a band for last year’s celebration was given to him in March. This left him only a month to find a band. He said he had a great act lined up, but they backed out at last minute.

This year, Yarwood said, he does not want to get caught in the same position, so he has already began trying to book a band.

“What I am trying to do right now is, as the spring tours come together, I am trying to find a date that naturally fits into a band’s tour dates,” said Yarwood, graduate student in educational leadership and policy studies. He said that with the help of the online survey, he will be able to have a band locked down by early January.

Craig said the Web survey will be used as a guide to help the Veishea committee select a band. Some bands will play only in venues with a capacity of 25,000 people, and Hilton Coliseum holds about 10,000 concert-goers.

The Veishea entertainment committee also has to look at when the bands are touring. Yarwood said if a band is not on tour, it is extremely expensive to get them to come to Ames.

The entertainment budget has not been approved, but Yarwood said that in the past, the committee has had about $50,000 to book a band for Center Stage. Unfortunately, he said, that isn’t enough to bring in a widely- known band.

David Adickes, Veishea entertainment co-chair, said he and Matt Tripp, also a Veishea entertainment co-chair, developed the Web site with Rick Cordaro, junior in electrical engineering and Union Drive Association president.

“We figure that using the World Wide Web will be more accessible to all students,” said Adickes, senior in agricultural systems technology and animal science.

Adickes said he believes more students will be able to get involved in the selection process through the Web site and the public relation co-chairs.

“We can’t please everyone, but we are going to try to make the most amount of people happy,” he said.

The Veishea Web site is www.veishea.org.