Fall on the Campus. Missoula, Montana. Photo by ©Paul Quenau.
By AUSTIN SMITH
The theme if this year’s homecoming week is “Up With Montana!”, a rousing line pulled from UM’s fight song meant to “celebrate both the tradition and rising future of a great institution and its students, alumni, supporters, faculty, staff and friends.”
Festivities this year kick off as early as Wednesday, with a filming of “The Price is Right Live!” in the Dennison Theater on campus. Register on GrizTix.com for your chance to ‘Come on down!’ and compete for amazing swag.
Events continue Thursday afternoon with an Art Fair in the UC Atrium, a concert by guitar virtuoso Andy McKee in the Dennison Theater at 6:30 p.m. and a rendition of “Avenue Q” in the Montana Theater at 7:30 p.m.
Put your party pants and your linguistics cap on Friday afternoon to take part in UM’s annual Hello Walk. The UM Alumni Association provides paints and brushes for you to leave a colorful greeting around campus, and has a loose schedule of stops posted on GrizAlum.org.
At 3:00 p.m. on Friday the Griz soccer team will take on Sacramento State at Dornblaser field. Afterwards, head to the UC Ballroom for the Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony at 5:30 p.m., or to the annual Yell Night Pep Rally on the Oval at 8:00 p.m. Once you’ve got the maroon juices flowing, channel your inner-Patrick Swayze at the All-Alumni Social and Dance, held at the Holiday Inn Downtown from 7:00 p.m. to midnight.
With the dawn of Saturday morning comes an unavoidable dilemma for Griz Nation: do you take part in the Homecoming Hustle at 9:45 a.m., or do you bundle up the kids and watch the Homecoming Parade at 10:00 a.m.? If you’re a Greek alum the choice is made a bit easier, as you have been invited to watch the parade at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon House, corner of Gerald and University Avenue.
But no matter what you choose to do this week in honor of the University of Montana, be sure to make it to Washington-Grizzly Stadium by 1:30 p.m. to watch our hometown Griz take down the Portland State University Vikings. The Big Sky Conference matchup will be televised, so get your friends together and see if they have any bare-chest paint at the Homecoming Art Fair in the UC.
*****