Every year, the complaint is the same: There's nothing to do in Muncie. This gripe seems to get even louder in the summer as the social scene dwindles with the majority of students gone for the break.
Despite the best efforts of Muncie's event planners and officials, business people and politicians, a surprising explanation for boredom has arisen: Ball State University students just aren't looking anymore. Or if they are, they aren't willing to break out of the box and try something new.
What exactly would be good enough to satisfy the students' craving for instant gratification? Short of the Muncie's first "Free Beer and Tuition Parade," Muncie's events have been interesting and promise to get even better. The city has already put on the Summer Jam and Summer Heat, and the End Of Summer Jam is on the horizon.
Sure, event programmers have to cater to the average Muncie native - often to the exclusion of the coolest of the cool at Ball State, but at least Muncie is trying. It's not as if the entire concert schedule for Emens Auditorium in made up of country music or anything.
In fact, someone who hasn't been to downtown Muncie in a while might be in for a shock. There's fine dining, live music, shows and a coffee house. Doesn't that signify nightlife? Oh, and the city bus goes straight there from campus every 15 minutes.
It is important for students to get off of campus and take advantage of anything and everything that Muncie has to offer.
Without a complete understanding of the events and venues that are hidden throughout this city, it is absolutely impossible to adequately judge how much or how little there is to do.
So next time someone is lamenting Ball State's status as a suitcase campus or whining about Muncie's supposed lack of entertaining diversions, point them downtown and open their eyes.
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