Annual festival brings families together
Oct. 15, 2003
KALAMAZOO -- Families and friends of Western Michigan University students will call WMU home Oct. 24-26, when they visit campus for the 36th annual Family Festival.
The event, originally known as Parents Day, honors and celebrates the commitment parents and guardians show to WMU and its students and involves them as well as other family members and friends in college life for an entire weekend.
The 2003 Family Festival is being sponsored by the WMU Parents Association with assistance from the Office of Residence Life in the Division of Student Affairs. It will begin Friday, Oct. 24, with participants being able to attend some of the entertainment and athletic events happening on campus and around town, including such WMU events as the Broadway production of "Late Nite Catechism," the Miller Auditorium presentation of "Rigoletto" and the student-sponsored staging of Mike Super's "Magic and Illusion."
The core of Family Festival activities will take place Saturday, Oct. 25, and will open with residence hall staff members meeting with families and students from 9 to 11 a.m. in Mug Shots Coffee House in Britton/Hadley Residence Hall.
Saturday's main event will be the WMU Parents Association tailgate for association members and their guests from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Hyames Field as a precursor to the 2 p.m. football game between WMU and Marshall University.
Among those on hand to meet with families will be Dr. Diane Anderson, WMU vice president of student affairs and dean of students. The tailgate also will feature a visit from Buster Bronco, a performance by the WMU Cheer Team and a pumpkin carving area, where students and their families can create jack-'o-lanterns.
No specific activities are planned for Saturday evening or Sunday, leaving families free to use one-time Student Recreation Center passes, which are available on a pre-arranged basis; capitalize on Parents Association discounts at local stores; or catch on-campus entertainment such as Travis Tritt's Miller Auditorium appearance, one of Shaw Theatre's offerings of "Late Nite Catechism" or the WMU versus Michigan State University hockey game.
For more information about Family Festival or to join the WMU Parents Association, call (269) 387-2156 or visit the association's Web site at <www.wmu-parents.wmich.edu>.
Media contact: Jeanne Baron, 269 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu