Most Western students would rather spend Saturday night hanging out with friends instead of family.
But from May 16-18, Western's Showtime Family Weekend will offer a plethora of activities sure to appeal to almost anyone's tastes, said Anna Carey, director of Western's New Student Services/Family Outreach office, which coordinates the Showtime Family Weekend.
From charity auctions to jalapeño-eating contests, the weekend is full of events designed to help Western students introduce their families to Western's campus and community.
“I encourage students to have family come up when there are so many things going on,” Carey said. “You’d have to work at it to be bored.”
Carey said the outreach office has been putting together the Showtime Family Weekend since the 1980s.
The office works with various student organizations, departments and programs at Western to create a varied schedule of performances, festivals, exhibitions and outdoor activities.
Students can use the weekend to make it easy and fun for their families to visit Western’s campus, Carey said.
Activities organized by Western departments include tours of Western’s Wilson library and Western’s outdoor sculpture collection, guided kayak trips on Bellingham Bay, Western Gallery’s “A Collaborative Exhibition,” and performances by On Ensemble and the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra at Western’s Performing Arts Center.
“Students do a fantastic job in organizing their programs and taking care of details,” Carey said. “[Student-coordinated events] have so much energy and showcase the student talent here at WWU.”
Relay for Life is a student-run fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
Teams walk all day and all night on Western’s track to help increase cancer awareness and raise money.
“Cancer is a disease that never sleeps,” said Western junior Rachel Rotter, chair of Western’s Relay for Life Committee and president of Western Students Against Cancer. “Relay for Life is an all-night event in order to honor that.”
This year, 67 teams of 10-12 participants will be taking part in Relay for Life.
The teams will start walking at noon May 17. The goal is for at least one member of each team to keep walking until 8 a.m. the next day, Rotter said.
“We want everybody to stay up all 20 hours,” Rotter said. “We have lots of activities to try to help people to do that.”
Activities at Relay for Life include karaoke, talent shows, a Mr. Relay drag show contest, dinner and ice cream, and music from a local band called The Growers.
Anybody can participate in the event and there is no deadline to sign up.
Carey said the New Student Services/Family Outreach office tries to make sure the Showtime Family Weekend activities are as balanced and varied as possible.
Families who enjoy outdoor activities can go on nature cruises in Squalicum Harbor to Lakewood, Western's waterfront facility; or to the 9th Annual Family Golf Tournament at North Bellingham Golf Course.
Western gallery director Sarah Clark-Langager said she encourages all audiences to see “A Collaborative Exhibition,” which shows a video of Montréal Danse's performance of “FURIES Alpha 1/24 (The Monsters Within)” with photographs by Dianne Kornberg.
The show resulted from the Western dance program asking if Montréal Danse could perform at the gallery, Clark-Langager said.
“I was delighted but said this is an art gallery, and I don't want to be shut down for two weeks,” Clark-Langager said. “So I asked him if we could find an art exhibition whose theme meshed with FURIES.”
Carey said she is pleased with the number of tickets requested for Showtime Weekend events.
“We work with departments to schedule planetarium shows and outdoor sculpture tours, and provide the bird-watch cruises and a golf tournament; there’s a great deal of variety and affordable things for students to enjoy with their family members,” Carey said.
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