Family fun. A fundraising run. Melifluous tones. Dinosaur bones. A swinging fling. Buying something.
Whatever your age or enthusiasms, something is sure to pique your interest among the many free activities happening on or near campus Saturday and Sunday, April 26 and 27.
On Saturday, shuttle buses will be on hand to bring people from the Communiversity Day celebration on Old Campus and the nearby "Children Across New Haven" festival on the New Haven Green to the Peabody Museum of Natural History, which is offering free admission to all city residents that day. On Sunday, the routes for the first Yale-New Haven Road Race and March of Dimes fundraisers will cross the campus, while Yale College students will be celebrating the end of classes at the annual Spring Fling on Old Campus.
COMMUNIVERSITY DAY: "COME SEE THE WORLD"
Free food, an International Fashion Show, a snake-petting exhibit, a signed copy of Angela Bassett's "Waiting to Exhale" movie script - all these things and more can be found at the Communiversity Day 1997 celebration being held 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, on Old Campus, bordered by College, Chapel, Elm and High streets.
The public is invited to attend the event, which celebrates the ties between the city and campus communities. The event is planned entirely by undergraduates.
"This day really symbolizes student interest in and commitment to the New Haven community," says Chi Ngyuen, chair of the event. "It's one way that students from all over the campus have chosen to celebrate the city and give back to the community." Communiversity Day 1997 is sponsored by Alpha Phi Omega, Dwight Hall, the Ethnic Community Relations Council, the Yale Office of New Haven Affairs and the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. This year's celebration is being presented in conjunction with the Jump Start "Kids Across New Haven" celebration on the New Haven Green. See related story, below.
The theme for Communiversity Day 1997, "Come See the World," pays tribute to the diverse cultures and ethnic groups found in the City of New Haven. In keeping with this theme, the Ethnic Community Relations Council will hold an Intercultural Bazaar. Among the highlights of the event will be a Ribbon Dance by the Chinese-American Students' Association and an International Fashion Show featuring Arabic, Cambodian, Vietnamese and German costumes.
In addition, nonprofit arts groups and area businesses will be featured in a Street Fair on High Street, and works by Elm City youngsters will be on display in a Community Art Show in Dwight Hall.
Other Communiversity Day activities include:
In the event of rain, the Communiversity Day events will be held in Linsley-Chittenden Hall and Dwight Hall on Old Campus.
JUMP START: 'KIDS ACROSS NEW HAVEN"
Kite making, Hawaiian luau, anatomy dance, parachute games - these are just some of the activities that young children and their families can take part in at the Children Across New Haven "learning fair" sponsored by Jumpstart New Haven.
Founded by a Yale student, Jumpstart New Haven is a community service program that works to build school-readiness skills with preschoolers and kindergarteners living in low-income communities. It draws its volunteers from Yale, as well as other area colleges and corporations. The program is closely affiliated with the Head Start program at Yale's Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy and the kindergarten at Clinton Avenue School.
Designed for children ages 3-6 and their families, the Jumpstart learning fair will take place 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, on the New Haven Green. Preschoolers and their parents can visit more than 20 "learning centers," each of which offers a unique educational experience. In addition to the activities listed above, there will be centers for making bird feeders, lemonade, boats, books and peanut butter. Others centers include Body Tracing, Club Jumpstart dancing, Life Size Blocks, Face Painting, Puppets, and Shape and Color Twister. Each of the centers will have information for parents with tips on learning activities that can be recreated at home.
In addition, there will be a construction center sponsored by the Eli Whitney Museum, a sea animal display by Mystic Aquarium, a story-telling and crafts table by the Friends of the New Haven Free Public Library, and displays and activities sponsored by the Connecticut Children's Museum and the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
The volunteers staffing the centers at Children Across New Haven will also be participating in a "servathon" fundraiser for Jumpstart, with sponsors pledging contributions according to the hours the volunteers work. All of the activities at the fair are free and open to the public. The event is affiliated with Communiversity Day 1997. See related story, above.
For further information about Jumpstart New Haven, call 432- 6763.
'NEW HAVEN DAY' AT THE PEABODY MUSEUM
Dioramas and dinosaur bones, mummies and minerals - these are among the natural and anthropological treasures on view at the Peabody Museum of Natural History, which is sponsoring "New Haven Day" 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 26.
All New Haven citizens with proof of residency will be given free admission to the museum, which is located at 170 Whitney Ave.
Museum-goers will have the opportunity to watch Native American artist Richard Hunt begin to carve a new mask for the Peabody's collections noon-4 p.m. See Visiting on Campus. They can also stop by two special displays: "Fragments of the Sky: The Art of Amazonian Rites of Passage," featuring artifacts "wrought from the very stuff of the rain forest itself"; and "Larger Than Life," featuring specimens of some of the world's largest animals.
Other perennial favorites at the Peabody include the permanent collection of dinosaur fossils and prehistoric mammals on the first floor; the nearby exhibits "Mexico to Peru," "Plains Indians" and "Pacific Cultures"; the meteorites display on the second-floor mezzanine; and the many displays on the museum's third floor, including the Silliman Hall of Minerals, dioramas of North American habitat groups, displays on Connecticut's birds and Native American cultures, The Hall of Southern New England Habitat Groups and an exhibit of Egyptian artifacts, including a mummy.
Visitors are also encouraged to stop by the Discovery Room on the second floor, a hands-on activity space for children and others.
Shuttle buses will also be available to bring museum visitors to the Communiversity Day and Children Across New Haven celebrations on Old Campus and the New Haven Green, respectively. See related stories, above. For information, call the InfoTape, 432- 5050.
SUNDAY'S EVENTS
Spring Fling
Yale College classes end on Friday, April 25. Two days later, undergraduates from every residential college will gather on Old Campus for that annual seasonal celebration known as Spring Fling.
Sponsored by the Yale College Council and the Yale Student Environment Coalition, the event will feature free food for students, along with a healthy side dish of music, served up by campus and local bands. Headlining the entertainment this year will be the Lemonheads.
Yale-New Haven Community Road Race
Woolsey Hall will be both the starting line and the finish line for the first annual Yale-New Haven Community Road Race, which will begin on Sunday, April 27, at 10 a.m.
Runners and walkers of all abilities are invited to participate in the event, which will benefit the New Haven Scholarship Fund. In addition to the four-mile walking and running course, there will be a half-mile "fun run." There will be post-race refreshments, and each participant will receive a T-shirt. The event is sponsored by the New Haven Labor Day Road Race, Yale's Athletics Department and Office of New Haven Affairs, Yale-New Haven Hospital and local merchants.
Registration forms for the race are available at Payne Whitney Gym, 70 Tower Pkwy.; the School of Medicine Office of Multicultural Affairs, 333 Cedar St.; the masters' offices of all undergraduate colleges; Trailblazer and most health clubs in the New Haven area.
Those interested can also receive an entry by email by writing to cgaj@biomed.med.yale.edu on the World Wide Web. Registration also will be held beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the day of the race behind Woolsey Hall, on Hewitt Quadrangle.
March of Dimes: 'Walk America'
The Yale campus - specifically, the University parking lot on Whitney Ave. near Kline Biology Tower - will also serve as the starting and stopping point for the March of Dimes' "Walk America" fundraiser on Sunday, April 27. The event is part of a national effort to raise contributions for the organization's Campaign for Healthier Babies.
The event will begin at 8 a.m. with warm-up exercises and registration; the walkathon itself will begin at 9 a.m. There will be five checkpoints along the 5.5-mile course, where participants can rest before continuing on the course. Refreshments and other incentive prizes will await participants at the finish line.
Those interested in participating can register in advance by calling 1-800-446-9255 or can sign up the day of the event.