Emporia's weekend will be busy
Fall Fest, Homecoming lead parade of events
By Brandy Nance
Friday, October 19, 2007
From Emporia State University’s Homecoming festivities to the First Christian Church’s blessing of the animals, this weekend will have something for everyone from college students to pet hamsters.
Today
The Main Street Fall Fest, sponsored by Emporia Main Street, will begin at 7 p.m. in the parking lot at Seventh Avenue and Merchant Street with activities for the whole family.
The Emporia Arts Council will be on hand to offer pumpkin painting.
A live band, “Between the Lines,” will play. There will also be horse-drawn hayrack rides at $5 a person.
From 9 p.m. to midnight, there will be a DJ for dance geared toward ESU students but open to all.
Saturday
ESU’s Homecoming parade will start at 10 a.m. Saturday on Commercial Street downtown. This year’s theme is “green” and will feature walking floats. A pep rally will follow the parade on Circle Drive at ESU.
Saturday evening, ESU will have a dance and a reunion of the Class of 1957. The “Kings of Swing,” a 14-piece concert band, which play at 8:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union Colonial Ballroom. The community is invited to attend the concert. The cost is $10 and reservations are not needed.
For the class of 1957, a special evening is planned. Twenty-one men and 21 women from the class married each other and have remained together. Eleven of these couples are planning on attending the events Saturday evening. Before the concert, the couples will renew their wedding vows on Wooster Bridge.
Sunday
For people and their animals, an animal blessing will be held starting at 2 p.m. Sunday at First Christian Church, 202 E. 12th Ave. Activities will include the blessing of the animals by the Rev. Bob Colerick and a look-a-like contest for pets and their owners. The H. Dale Buck Fund and the Emporia Animal Shelter will be on hand with adoptable pets.
Other activities Sunday at the church include pet portraits, a demonstration by the Lyon County K9 Unit, a presentation by Dr. Duane Henrikson of Emporia Veterinary Hospital and a prize package drawing from the shelter booths. Hill’s Pet Nutrition will hand out free samples.
Other events in and around the area:
F At 7:30 p.m. today, the Emma Chase Cafe in Cottonwood Falls will feature “K-177 Bluegrass Pickin’.”
F It will be spooky tonight and Saturday night at Camp Alexander and Neosho Rapids. Camp Alexander’s Haunted Forest will run from 8 p.m. to midnight each night. Call 342-1386 for information. The Neosho Rapids Haunted House, sponsored by the Neosho Rapids Lions Club, will run from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Neosho Rapids Community Center.
F The ESU Homecoming football game will begin at 1 p.m. in Welch Stadium.
F Saturday is the day for the Prairie Harvest Festival and Barn Dance at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, north of Strong City on Kansas Highway 177. Information: (620) 273-8494.