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Campus celebration features family fun

August 11, 1999

In just one day later this month, youngsters and their parents can pet a calf, ride a Duck, throw a pot and walk through a Wisconsin limestone cave replica.

See also:
Sesquicentennial Celebration parking tips

These exciting family activities and many more are within a few minutes’ walk or ride of each other during the Sesquicentennial Summer Celebration Sunday, Aug. 22.

The university is opening its doors to the community, offering public glimpses of many corners of the campus and scheduling dozens of entertaining and educational activities.

“The celebration will be lots of fun for people of all ages, and it will provide a great opportunity for them to learn more about UW–Madison and sample some of the many resources it has to offer,” says sesquicentennial coordinator Peyton Smith.

Parking in university lots will be free Sunday, Aug. 22, and buses will shuttle visitors between events along special routes connecting all the major activities. Visitors can pick up detailed information at the event, or plan an itinerary in advance using online schedules and maps.

Here’s a sample itinerary featuring some of the many activities that may interest families and children, beginning around 9 a.m. and continuing through the afternoon of Sunday, Aug. 22:

  • Children can make their own first aid kits for free at the UW Children’s Hospital booth, where other basic first aid and safety information will be available for parents. Tent area, University Bay Drive fields behind UW Hospital and Clinics, 9 a.m.-noon.
  • Watch cows being milked at midday at the Dairy Cattle Instruction and Research Facility, 1815 Linden Drive. 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.
  • For a close-up look at the farm animals located on the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences campus, visit the livestock area inside the Stock Pavilion, 1675 Linden Drive. Youngsters will enjoy petting a calf. 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.
  • Climb aboard one of the Original Wisconsin Ducks, which are World War II-vintage amphibious transport vehicle, to view one of the nation’s most beautiful university campuses from a new perspective – Lake Mendota. The 30-minute tours depart from the Below Alumni House, 650 North Lake St. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Cost/$6 for adults, $4 for children, with proceeds going to the Sesquicentennial Undergraduate Scholarship Fund.
  • Ready to take a break? The kids can color pictures and compare their work with entries in the Wisconsin Alumni Association and Wisconsin State Journal sesquicentennial children’s coloring event. Red Gym, 2nd Floor, 716 Langdon St. Noon-5 p.m.
  • Walk through a model of a Wisconsin limestone cave. at the Geology Museum, then stroll among the minerals, rocks, fossils and skeletons of a 10,000-year-old Wisconsin mastodon, a 65-million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur and a saber-tooth cat. 120 Weeks Hall, 1215 W. Dayton St., 1-5 p.m.
  • Experience the excitement of participating in the museum’s search for the remains of dinosaurs and other vertebrates found in the badlands of South Dakota, Montana and Kansas. Klaus Westphal, director of the UW Geology Museum, presents an entertaining slide lecture, “Digging Dinosaurs” Elvehjem Museum of Art, Room L160 (lower level), 800 University Ave. 1:30-2:30 p.m.
  • Try throwing pottery at the Memorial Union Craftshop hands-on pottery demonstrations for both adults and children. Upper Union Terrace, 800 Langdon St., 1:30-3 p.m.
  • Learn how to design a wooden chair in a hands-on family activity for children ages 6 and up accompanied by an adult. Elvehjem Museum of Art, 800 University Ave., Gallery VI, 2-4 p.m.
  • Kids will love the New Orleans-influenced dance and musical entertainment of Los Leoncitos. Memorial Union Terrace, 800 Langdon St., 2-4 p.m.
  • Cap the day with “The Wonders of Physics,” a fun and informative program designed to generate interest in physics for people of all ages and backgrounds. The heart of the program is a fast-paced physics demonstrations. Memorial Union, Great Hall, 800 Langdon St., 3-4 p.m.

Other festivities get underway Saturday evening with live music and dancing on the Memorial Union Terrace and a special program at the Elvehjem Museum of Art. The celebration continues through Sunday and concludes with a live 20th anniversary broadcast of Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Simply Folk” on the Union Terrace, 5-8 p.m.

Open houses and tours will proceed throughout the day Sunday all over campus. And on the lower campus, including Library Mall, there will be music and other entertainment.