Ouachita’s community will include several hundred more faces this weekend at the fourth annual OcTiger Fest. Held in conjunction with Homecoming festivities on Saturday, Oct. 8, booths and activities run by clubs, organizations and academic departments will be spread throughout the main campus lawn from 9-11 a.m.
As one of most recent additions to Homecoming weekend, OcTiger Fest has quickly become a popular tradition.
“OcTiger Fest began as an effort to bring Ouachita together as a community,” said Lauren Land, director of alumni.
A project of the Homecoming Steering Committee, OcTiger Fest seeks to link generations of Ouachitonians, including current students, alumni, families, faculty and staff, clubs and organizations.
Picture by Katie Osment.
“OcTiger Fest reminds us of what makes Ouachita so great: people,” said Jacob Lively, a senior biology major and Student Senate president.
Campus Activities Board and Tiger Network, a freshman leadership group, will host a CubZone for children. It will feature inflatables, popcorn, games and coloring books.
The Ouachita Student Foundation will hold a silent auction throughout the day. Items for bid include personal parking spaces for residence halls, a 15-person dinner hosted by Dr. Wesley Kluck, tickets to a Dallas Cowboys game and tickets to the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Those interested in bidding can visit the OSF booth. Bidding will close after the last Tiger Tunes show that night.
A special booth dedicated to the 125th anniversary celebration will showcase celebrations from earlier in the year as well as give a preview of what is to come.
Also in honor of the 125th anniversary, a signing for Ouachita Voices, the commemorative history book, will be held in Grant Plaza between 9-11 a.m. Included in the signing will be Terry Jones of Point of Grace and Cliff Harris, a former Dallas Cowboy. Both are Ouachita alumni.
Members of the Homecoming Steering Committee hope the event will draw even more people this year.
In addition to the clubs and organizations that typically meet and greet those returning to campus, academic departments will be participating this year as well.
“Alumni are not only seeing how their organizations have been growing, but also the departments in which they studied,” said Austin King, a senior political science major and member of the Homecoming Steering Committee. “Our hope is that this will bring a better picture of the Ouachita community as a whole to OcTiger Fest.”
In another new event, the freshmen class will host their own tailgate party before the game Saturday. Afterward, they plan to walk together to the game wearing their Tiger For Life T-shirts and freshmen beanies.
“We would like to see this as the beginning of another great tradition at Ouachita,” said Catie Bennett, a junior education major and another Homecoming Steering Committee member.
Bennett cites OcTiger Fest as her favorite event of the Homecoming weekend.
“I love welcoming the hundreds of alumni back to our campus and getting to hear their stories about what OBU was like when they were here,” she said.
A Homecoming pep rally will be held on the steps of Mabee Fine Arts Building at 10:45 a.m.
OcTiger Fest will be followed by a picnic lunch on the lawn provided by Sodexo. Everyone is encouraged to attend; students should bring their IDs for the picnic.
Picture by Katie Osment.
