Enjoy student-led family fun

Looking for some family fun for Saturday? Have I got just the thing for you. While not official alumni events, there are a lot of things happening on campus and you and your family are invited!

Saturday will be the annual student-organized Riley Creek Festival with inflatables, carnival games, music and the ever popular Duck Race on the Riley. And, as if that were not enough, both the softball and baseball teams are at home. And, it just keeps getting better, it’s Strike-Out Cancer day for the softball team.

Last year I invited my parents, nieces and nephew to the Riley Creek Festival, specifically for the duck race. Unfortunately we got here too late to purchase a duck. The kids still had fun watching the yellow duckies bobbing down the creek. (Dad is the guy in the yellow shirt, next to Mom and the three kids to the left.)

There are large inflatables for the big kids – one year it was a joust, this year a mechanical bull - and inflatables for the smaller kids, face painting and so much more. Check out photos from last year to get an idea.

While it was fun, I do recommend getting there early to give the youngsters time to play games and jump on the inflatables (all free!), “buy” a duck (benefits the American Red Cross) and enjoy a picnic lunch ($6 for adults, and $3 for children.)

Students in SOUL (Students Organizations United in Leadership) plan the Riley Creek Festival annually as a campus and community-wide celebration of spring.

As an extra bonus, softball’s Strike-Out Cancer game, complete with pink bases and pinstriping, begins at 1 p.m. vs. Anderson at the new field near next to the baseball diamond. All are invited to donate $25 to the American Cancer Society to sponsor a player. The player with the most money given in her name will receive a sweatshirt.

Coach Bruder reports that in the past eight years an average of $1,350 has been raised each year by this event.

And the baseball team will take on Hanover, also at 1 p.m. I wonder if there might be a strategic location between the softball and baseball fields where you could keep an eye on both contests at the same time.

According to a check of weather.com, Saturday is supposed to be in the upper 60s degrees with a 40 percent chance of rain. Not a bad day to kick about on campus.