JMU plans carnival to bond

The first JMUbilee, a community carnival, will be held at the conclusion of Madison Week to create community bonds between the university and Harrisonburg community.

The festival will be held Saturday, March 19 on Godwin Field.

JMUbilee was a campaign promise originally set forth by Student Body President Tom Culligan. Upon election, Culligan began crafting the event with junior Corey Schwartz, the executive director of the University Program Board.

"It is an idea that has evolved over time, and many people have been involved with," Culligan said.

Junior Yasmeen Alamiri, a co-director of public relations JMUbilee, said, "Through this festival, we are striving to create a unity between the JMU community and the Harrisonburg community and unite us all as neighbors."

The event is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will start with a 10K walk/run, sponsored, by the sophomore class. The 10K will be followed by events such as cook-offs, contests and face painting.

Local musicians both from JMU and the community will perform on the UPB sponsored main stage.
Booths will be available for local businesses and groups to have a place to hand out information or explain the mission of the group.

"[Organizations and businesses] can use to [the booths] to show what they can provide to the Harrisonburg community or JMU students," Schwartz said. "It is not meant to be used for recruiting, though. These groups will be sponsoring some sort of carnival game or activity as well."

Some of the booths at the event will be an OrangeBand painting booth, where students can paint their orange band however they choose. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance also will have a beanbag toss booth. Since JMUbilee is still in the planning stages, local businesses and groups still have the opportunity to work a booth during the Festival.

Raffle tickets will be sold for themed baskets donated by local and JMU organizations, Alamiri said. Proceeds from the raffle will go to Mercy House of Harrisonburg.