The 16 candidates for the 10th-annual Mr. Wash. U. competition were announced at Mr. Wash. U.’s first-ever Fall Festival Saturday afternoon.

The event included apple cider, pizza and fall games including a sack race in which both candidates and children served by City Faces, the after-school tutoring program that Mr. Wash. U. funds go toward, participated.

Seniors Diane-Jo Bart-Plange and Christian Gordon, Mr. Wash. U. co-presidents, said that they hoped the event would be the start of increased visibility for Mr. Wash. U. and its candidates.

Mr. Wash. U. has previously held a fall event, but it was not combined with the candidate reveal, according to Bart-Plange and Gordon. This year, they decided to host the Fall Festival and announce candidates at the event to help draw more student attention to Mr. Wash. U.

“One of our goals for the year is to increase awareness and campus involvement, and so we thought to combine two of our most important events in the early fall would be a great way to do that,” Gordon said.

Bart-Plange added that Mr. Wash. U. hoped to increase collaboration with City Faces, which was why the children were invited to attend the event.

“We’ve been collaborating a lot more with City Faces this year and trying to do more co-programming with them because we feel like our organization’s been becoming a little more disconnected from City Faces when, if we’re raising money for the organization, then we should really be working together more,” Bart-Plange said.

The 16 candidates announced contrasted with the eight candidates who competed in the 2014 Mr. Wash U competition. Although Bart-Plange said that the number of initial candidates who dropped out of last year’s competition was unusually high compared to past years, a higher number of applicants for the “Survivor”-themed 2015 competition made the co-presidents hopeful for this year.

Many students came to the event to cheer on friends who were being announced as candidates.

“They did a really good job advertising on Facebook, and also a lot of my close friends are Mr. Wash. U. candidates, so I decided I’d come by and support [them],” sophomore James Wall said.

Sophomore Andrea Leon said she had come to the Fall Festival to support her friend, who was a candidate, and City Faces, which she saw as playing a helpful role in the St. Louis community.

“Obviously the fact that my friend’s involved in it [was a reason,] but also it’s a good cause,” Leon said.

The candidates announced were freshmen Rahul Ramaswamy, Spencer Williams, Jasmine Brown, Reuben Hogan and Michael Kramer; sophomores Trey Rhodes and Taylor Bird McGuire; juniors Kevin Thomas, Karisa Tavassoli, Seamus Finnegan and Sandhya Ramaswamy; and seniors Rachel Catanese, Patrick Easley, David Dwight IV, Benjamin Todd and Ted Lin.