After last year’s virtual Homecoming, events and activities are back up and running for UW-Eau Claire’s Homecoming Week 2021. A mix of new events and old traditions will run from Oct. 10 to Oct. 17 for a week-long celebration.

Homecoming week began on Sunday, Oct. 10 with window painting on the windows of Davies center. On Monday, the Medallion hunt and royalty campaigning began. Voting for Homecoming Royalty via student email will begin Thursday, Oct. 14, and will close Friday at 3 p.m. 

Students on the University Activities Commision and festivals committee planned many events for this week while maintaining campus pandemic protocols. Brett Farmer, university activities commision director, said the UAC is excited to return to a normal Homecoming once again. 

“Last year, unless you were seeking involvement, it was not very evident that we were even having a Homecoming,” Farmer said. “This year we are really going all in and bringing a lot of things back, as well as adding some new things.” 

Farmer said the UAC is excited to encourage students to participate and be a part of campus Homecoming activities, now that the events are back in-person. These events aren’t just for organizations, Farmer said, but also for students as well and are a great way to get involved on campus.

Blu’s Fan Art Competition on Tuesday, Oct. 12, is one of the returning events from last year’s virtual Homecoming, Farmer said. Students who participated tagged UAC in their fan art posted on Instagram. Voting will take place later in the week. 

Wednesday, Oct. 13. is the “Nature Calls” homecoming 5k, 1k or stroll from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with free t-shirts and plant giveaways. This is open to all students with no registration required. 

There will also be games on the campus mall on Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. Games include water balloon toss, tug-o-war, scooter races and more.

The weekend will kick off with Varsity Night Live on Friday, Oct. 15 at 7p.m in Zorn Arena. The event will feature multiple performers, announcements of Homecoming Royalty and Alumni awards. 

Joann Martin, university activities commision advisor, said that Varsity Night Live this year will be slightly different. This year’s featured act is a Minneapolis based comedian, Tommy Ryman. Ryman is a semi-finalist on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.”

“We are really pumped to bring back varsity night live and hope that students are excited to come out and support our student performers,” Martin said. 

Tickets for Varsity Night Live are $3 leading up to the show and $5 the day of. Tickets can be purchased here. 

The weekend will continue with the Homecoming Parade Saturday, Oct 16. The parade is to be followed by the Blugold football game against UW-River Falls on Oct. 16. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. and the event is free with a blugold ID. 

Homecoming week will end on Sunday, Oct. 17 with the Adopt-a-Block Cleanup event at 1 p.m. in the Water Street parking lot. 

More details on Homecoming week events can be found on the UAC instagram page @uwec.uac. 

Snyder can be reached at [email protected].