|
By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu
 From the Varsity restaurant to downtown streets to campus lawns and Sanford Stadium, UGA students and alumni will be partying with food, fun and football as UGA celebrates Homecoming Oct. 8-14.
“Dawg Fest 2000--A New Beginning to an Old Tradition” is the theme of this year’s celebration, sponsored by the student activities department and the National Alumni Association.
A Homecoming highlight will be an NAA-sponsored food fest Oct. 13 at the Varsity restaurant at the corner of Milledge Avenue and the Atlanta Highway. Varsity food items will be sold for 50 cents, and those who buy food coupons will be eligible for drawings for prizes including dinners, clothes and a cell phone.
Uga VI, the university’s bulldog mascot, will be present, along with Hairy Dawg and players and coaches from the gymnastics and men’s basketball teams. Some former football players, as well as some UGA athletes who participated in the Sydney Olympics, also are expected.
Alumni are invited to compete with members of fraternities and sororities in a hot dog eating contest. Bill Hartman Sr., who has been associated with UGA athletics as a player, coach and fund raiser for more than half a century, will be honorary judge.
People at the food fest can leave their cars in the Varsity parking lot and ride a city bus to downtown Athens for the Homecoming Parade, which steps off at 6:30 p.m. Bands will begin performing on a stage at Clayton and College streets at 5 p.m., and radio station WGNC 106.1 will broadcast the festivities and parade live.
The Redcoat Band will be in the parade, along with Uga VI, Miss University of Georgia, UGA athletes and members of the Homecoming Court, composed of contestants for Homecoming king and queen.
The annual Jack Davis Lecture will follow the parade at 7:30 p.m. Anita Kunz, principal illustrator for Rolling Stone magazine, will speak in the auditorium of the Georgia Museum of Art.
Student Homecoming events got under way Oct. 8 at 11 p.m. with street painting on Sanford Drive. On Oct. 9, a Homecoming “Kickoff” will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Tate Student Center plaza. Activities will include food, games, inflatable slides, prize giveaways, a D.J. and live performances by student groups.
Hypnotist Tom DeLuca will perform Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. in the Ramsey Student Center.
The “Bulldog Blowout,” scheduled Oct. 10 on Tate Plaza from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., will include food, music and carnival-style games and activities sponsored by 27 student organizations.
The entire campus is invited to the black-tie “Movers and Shakers Ball” Oct. 13 from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. in Georgia Hall in the Tate Student Center. Refreshments will be provided, and pictures will be made. The Homecoming Court will be introduced at midnight. Tickets, at $16 per couple or $10 per person, can be purchased at the student activities business office in the Tate Center.
Students will vote throughout the week for the Homecoming king and queen, and the winners will be crowned during halftime of the Georgia-Vanderbilt game, when the Sudler Trophy also will be presented to the Redcoat Band.
Alumni are welcome at a student pep rally at the Tate Student Center beginning two hours before kickoff. Campus radio station WUOG will broadcast live, and there will be spirit competitions and UGA trivia games.
The National Alumni Association invites all members to a pre-game open house with refreshments in Memorial Hall beginning two hours before kickoff. |
