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Football, fireworks mark True Blue Days
UB on Friday will kick off its annual tradition True Blue Days—a time for students, alumni, faculty, staff, family and friends to paint themselves blue and white, and celebrate in the glow of a giant bonfire.
To the UB faithful, it means one thing: It’s time for the UB homecoming football game, which this year pits the UB Bulls against the Temple Owls. Kickoff is at noon on Saturday in UB Stadium, North Campus. The first 1,000 members of the general public and the first 500 students entering the stadium will receive a free “Go Bulls” scarf.
True Blue festivities will begin at 5:30 p.m. on Friday with a reception in the Center for the Arts, North Campus, featuring welcoming remarks by President John B. Simpson. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served. Visitors can take backstage tours of the CFA and visit the UB Art Gallery’s new exhibit, “Golden Days of Artpark,” a glimpse of radical art created during the park’s first decade.
Friday’s homecoming events will continue with “Augusten Burroughs: A One Night Stand!” a comedy presentation at 8 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre in the CFA. The show features Burroughs, whose best-selling memoir, “Running with Scissors,” was on The New York Times bestseller list for more than four years and was adapted to an Oscar-nominated film in 2006.
If art and comedy are not your thing, visitors can enjoy carnival-style rides, such as the “loop-o-plane” and the “round-up,” and games of chance from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Friday in the open area between Lee Road and Lake LaSalle on the North Campus. A bonfire large enough to require at least 50 pallets of wood will light up a pep rally aimed at getting UB fans excited for the next day’s game. Fireworks will close out the evening’s festivities.
“We are ecstatic to present Homecoming Carnival and Spirit Week for the UB student body, as well as the community at large,” says Nischal Vasant, president of the undergraduate Student Association. “Homecoming is one of the longest-running traditions at UB, and we’re excited to bring an even bigger and better week of events than last year.”
Last year’s True Blue festivities attracted about 4,000 people, despite bad weather.
Saturday’s festivities will start at 9 a.m. with a tailgate party in the Special Events Parking Lot on North Campus. The band Gruvology will entertain with smooth jazz music. The first 100 students to arrive will receive a free breakfast sandwich and coffee. Traditional tailgating foods, such as hotdogs and pretzels, will be available for $2.
Thunder of the East and the Dazzlers, UB’s marching band and dance team, will escort the UB football players into the stadium at 9:40 a.m. A bounce house, obstacle course, football and beanbag tosses, face-painting and other amusements will be available outside the stadium. Students also will have the opportunity to create a self-portrait to be used in the 2011 Faces of Buffalo mosaics.
Closing out the tailgate experience will be Boys of Summer, winners of a 2009 Buffalo Music Award for Top Group Vocals.
“We hope that everyone comes out and joins us to show the spirit for the Bulls!” says Vasant.
For a detailed schedule of events, visit the True Blue Days website.
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