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March 26, 1999
SpringFest, Mothers Weekend
feature hundreds of events
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Mother's Weekend, SpringFest and Bug Bowl at Purdue University
have blended into a weekend that celebrates the start of spring with hundreds of
events across the campus.
The celebration this year will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 17, and from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 18.
Spring Fest has become a cow-milking, cricket-spitting, turkey-calling extravaganza.
It is built around the annual Horticulture Show and open houses at the Schools of
Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, and Consumer and Family Sciences, which traditionally
are held on Mothers Weekend.
The big kahuna of the weekend is Bug Bowl, which began nine years ago as a small class
project but quickly grew into an event that attracted thousands. The world-renowned
event features cricket spitting, cockroach races, cooked insects to eat, a petting
zoo, and insect-themed arts and crafts.
Other events on campus that weekend are the first Mother's Weekend Arts and Crafts
Show sponsored by the Purdue Student Union Board, three free band concerts, the Jahari
Dance Troupe Spring Revue, Purdue Theatre's production of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's
House," the Holocaust Remembrance Conference, qualifications for the Grand Prix kart
race, and women's tennis and softball matches.
"We have something for every member of the family to enjoy," said Dana Neary, SpringFest
coordinator.
New SpringFest activities this year include a contest to teach children how to make
the sounds of a wild turkey, samples of freeze-dried ice cream, driving a remote-controlled
car through an agricultural obstacle course, putting on a golf green, milking a cow, and watching students re-create the famous experiment that Galileo conducted
at the Tower of Pisa.
The new activities reflect involvement by departments such as food science and agricultural
economics and the School of Science.
"Adding the School of Science adds a whole new dimension to SpringFest, " Neary said.
Here are details about some SpringFest activities:
- The 86th annual Horticulture Show, held both days, includes plant sales, a chance
for golfers to putt for prizes, a children's garden with a unique water fountain,
and a greenhouse filled with an array of thousands of flowers, herbs and bedding
plants. Growing a meditation garden for backyard escapes will be featured.
- The 36th annual Veterinary Medicine Open House, on Satuday only, will include greyhound
demonstrations, a petting zoo, exhibits of exotic animals and an oxen team demonstration.
- The Boiler Brick Bowl has teams of Purdue landscape architecture and landscape horticulture
students build brick sculptures they have designed. The contest begins at 10:30 a.m.
Saturday and ends at 3 p.m. The finished products will be on display all day Sunday.
Other Saturday-only activities include the turkey calling and freeze-dried ice cream,
and open houses at the Purdue Cancer Center at the Departments of Biological Sciences
and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. The re-enactment of Galileo's experiment, in
which he dropped objects of different mass from the same height to prove that an object's
weight does not influence how fast it falls, also is a Saturday-only event.
Children will have a chance to win a football autographed by Purdue Head Football
Coach Joe Tiller. Kids can pick up a passport at any of the three information booths
on the agriculture campus and the Purdue Memorial Mall. The children can get the
passports stamped when they visit different SpringFest activities. When a passport has five
or more stamps, it can be entered into a drawing for prizes, including the football.
Other events on campus that weekend:
FRIDAY, APRIL 16
Irish poet Eavan Boland reads from her works. 4 p.m. Room 218, Stewart Center. Boland
is on campus as the speaker at the April 15 Literary Awards Banquet. Free.
American Music Review, Variety Band and Spring Auxiliaries present a concert of pop
and jazz favorites. 8 p.m. Long Center, 111 N. Sixth St., Lafayette. Free.
Purdue Theatre presents Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House." 8 p.m. Experimental Theatre,
Stewart Center. Tickets are $11 for adults, $7 for students and senior citizens,
at the Loeb Box Office, (765) 494-3933.
SATURDAY, APRIL 17
The first Mother's Weekend Arts and Craft Show. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Purdue Memorial Union.
More than 60 artisans and crafters have reserved booth spaces. Sponsored by Purdue
Student Union Board in place of University Sing, a choral competition that had been
held annually for 68 years.
Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference. Opens at 1 p.m. at Class of 1950
Lecture Hall, and events continue into the evening at on- and off-campus locations.
The theme is "Reawakening Trust -- Rebirth of Hope." For details, contact Rabbi Gedalyah Engel, conference coordinator, (765) 743-1716.
Grand Prix pole qualification day. 11 a.m. Kart track north of Ross-Ade Stadium.
Fastest qualifier will sit on the pole at the April 24 running of the 42nd annual
Purdue Grand Prix kart race, known as the "Greatest Spectacle in College Racing."
Free.
Women's tennis vs. Northwestern. 11 a.m. Varsity Courts. Free.
Women's softball vs. Wisconsin (doubleheader). 1 p.m. Varsity Softball Complex. Tickets
are $4 for the public, $3 for students.
Purdue Concert Band Festival. 7-10 p.m. Elliott Hall of Music. Purdue Bands presents
its first Concert Band Festival, with a special performance by the United States
Air Force Band. Free.
Jahari Dance Troupe Spring Revue, "Summer Dance Happenings." 7 p.m. Fowler Hall,
Stewart Center. Tickets are $5 for students, $7 for the public, at the Loeb Box Office,
(765) 494-3933. This event is part of the Black Cultural Center's Spring Cultural
Arts Series.
Purdue Theatre presents Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House." 8 p.m. Experimental Theatre,
Stewart Center. Tickets are $11 for adults, $7 for students and senior citizens,
at the Loeb Box Office, (765) 494-3933.
SUNDAY, APRIL 18
Greater Lafayette Holocaust Remembrance Conference resumes at 10:30 a.m., and events
continue through the day at on- and off-campus sites. The theme is "Reawakening Trust
-- Rebirth of Hope." For details, contact Rabbi Gedalyah Engel, conference coordinator, (765) 743-1716.
Women's tennis vs. Illinois. 11 a.m. Varsity Courts. Free.
Exhibit of paintings by Doris Steider. 1-4 p.m. Stewart Center Gallery (West Lobby).
Steider, a nationally recognized egg-tempera artist and a Purdue alumna, draws inspiration
from the deserts, mountains and ghost towns of the Southwest and from her travels around the globe. Free.
Women's softball vs. Wisconsin. 2 p.m. Varsity Softball Complex. Tickets are $4 for
the public, $3 for students.
Purdue Symphony Orchestra concert. 2:30 p.m. Loeb Playhouse, Stewart Center. The
orchestra is joined by the winner of the 1999 Concerto Competition. Free.
Purdue Theatre presents Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House." 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Experimental
Theatre, Stewart Center. Tickets are $11 for adults, $7 for students and senior citizens,
at the Loeb Box Office, (765) 494-3933.
Source: Dana Neary, (765) 494-9113; dn@aes.purdue.edu
Writer: Frank Koontz, (765) 494-2080; fkoontz@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
PHOTO CAPTION:
Visitors to the 1998 Purdue Horticulture Show included this youngster in a bee suit,
fresh from the Bug Bowl. The child is Jacqueline Stanley, and she's with her grandmother,
Carol York, the wife of Purdue entomologist Alan York. In the background are family friend Kristen Bonwell and Jacqueline's little sister, Rosalie, in the stroller.
(Purdue News Service Photo by David Umberger)
Color photo, electronic transmission, and Web and ftp download available. Photo ID: Hortshow98
Download Photo Here
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