Ball State University is celebrating its 80th Homecoming this week and students can expect an entirely new event, Music on McKinley, along with staples such as Air Jam, Student Scholarship Talent Search and the Bed Race.
Christine Lindner, Homecoming publicity chairwoman, said that coming up with the right Homecoming theme was a lengthy process.
"We wanted to find something that was fun, but something that people could use throughout the week," she said.
The Homecoming Steering Committee eventually decided on "Cheers to 80 Years" as the theme for Homecoming 2006.
"It left a lot of room for interpretation as far as designing floats and banners," Matt Bare, Homecoming general chairman, said.
Some students are not so enthusiastic about the theme.
"It's commemorative, but it's not fun as a theme for Homecoming," freshman Nicholas Moore, social chair of his pledge class, said.
This year's Homecoming has some new activities that students will be interested in, Lindner said.
Music on McKinley is an new event that will take place on Wednesday on McKinley Avenue.
"Students can stroll up and down [McKinley] and listen to live acoustic acts, look at artwork and get some hot cocoa, which I think is really cool," Lindner said.
Saturday's Homecoming parade route is also new due to construction on Wheeling Avenue. Instead of crossing the High Street Bridge to Wheeling Avenue to University Avenue, this year's parade will cross Washington Street Bridge to Reserve Street to Meeks Avenue to University Avenue. The best place for students to see the parade will probably be from the Village, Ben Yoder, Homecoming parade chairman, said.
Today's Homecoming events include residence hall and department decorating contest judging, the Residence Halls Dinner, Opening Day Kick-Off and Faculty/Staff Royalty Coronation.
The Residence Halls Dinner will be served at 5 p.m. at LaFollette, Noyer and Elliot dining halls where students can enjoy "carnival-style" food like hamburgers and hot dogs, Kelly Meadows, Homecoming residence halls chairwoman said.
"It's a great start to Homecoming and it's one of the special meals Dining [Service] offers to make sure students have what they like to eat," she said.
The dinner features a wing bar and a banana split sundae bar and every student will leave with a special Homecoming megaphone filled with popcorn, Meadows said.
Students can participate in relay races, tug-of-war and root beer-pong tournaments and see the Faculty/Staff Royalty Coronation ceremony at Opening Day Kick-Off at 7 p.m. in Irving Gym.
The relay-races are enjoyable because competition is fun, sophomore Ervin Gainer said.
The final event of the night, the crowning of the Faculty/Staff king and queen, is important for students to attend because they nominated the staff members to the court, Jen Nietupski, Homecoming Faculty/Staff chairwoman, said.
"It shows the professors and faculty that the students actually care about them," she said. "It just gets them involved in the university community other than just doing their jobs."
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