MadisonFest Kicks Off Homecoming 2009

From: JMU Office of Alumni Relations

New event promises to be a three-ring circus

For the first time ever, JMU’s annual Homecoming Week will be kicked off by a student-focused event.

All JMU students are invited to kick off Homecoming Week at MadisonFest Sunday, Oct. 11, from 6 to 9 p.m. on the Festival lawn.

JMU alumni relations staff members created MadisonFest to give students an official start to Homecoming Week, says to Sarah Carter (’10), Homecoming 2009 MadisonFest Committee co-chair. “This event kicks off this year’s weeklong Homecoming events and gives students an opportunity to learn more about the week’s special events,” adds Carter.

The event will feature a T-shirt swap (bring a T-shirt from another college and swap it for a JMU Homecoming 2009 T-shirt), a “freak show” competition, a DJ and a bonfire. The freak show competition is a chance for students to show off their freaky talents on stage. Carter and co-chair Sean Strachan are in charge of the bonfire, and it will be similar to the one at the Delaware Homecoming pep rally three years ago.

“We thought that this would really unite the JMU and Harrisonburg communities, and it would be an event that people would remember and want to attend,” says Carter.

MadisonFest events and food will mirror a circus theme in line with the overall Homecoming 2009 theme “Under the Big Top.” There will be free popcorn and cotton candy. Carter and Strachan say they are also planning to serve hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled bananas with chocolate chips, and a version of s’mores.

Check out the Homecoming Week 2009 schedule of events here. http://www.jmu.edu/homecoming/events.shtml

And, be sure to pick up the Monday, Oct. 12, issue of The Breeze for a special Homecoming Week 2009 Purple and Gold Guide to all the student events for the week.