It’s Family Weekend! That means it’s time to vacuum the dorm room, do the laundry, wash the dishes, and hide all your candy bars.

Do not be alarmed if you see people who are twice you age in your classes who aren’t your professor.

While there are events happening all weekend around campus, Saturday is the main day. There will be workshops in the morning for parents since this weekend is geared toward “helping with the transition,” according to Assistant Director of Campus Activities Scott Broady.

If you’re feeling super smart in light of midterms, you can test your wits with trivia at 1:30p.m. in the Courtyard Café. 

“Trivia will be a good one with the guys, the Savants of Question from Patrick’s on campus should be really fun,” Broady said.

If you’re feeling adventurous, there’s always the Murder Mystery Dinner. This is Broady’s first year working on these events.

“We don’t want college kids to think ‘oh that’s just for families with little kids.’ It’s for everybody.”—Scott Moeller

“The Murder Mystery Dinner is the one that I’m probably most looking forward to… it’s an interactive, comedic, theatrical dinner in Alumni Hall.” said Broady.

To top it all off on Saturday, there’s Family Bingo Mania, which according to Broady, comes “with lots of prizes.” Even if Bingo isn’t your scene, there will be free prizes.

To add to the Family Weekend fun, the Arboretum will be hosting the annual Fall Fest. There will be food, games, hayrides, a scarecrow contest, a treasure hunt, and much more. It’s open to all Gustavus students and the surrounding community.

“We don’t want college kids to think ‘oh that’s just for families with little kids’ and we don’t want people from the surrounding communities to think ‘oh that’s just for Gustavus.’ It’s for everybody,” the Linneaus Arboretum Director Scott Moeller said.

If you’ve never been to the Arb, Fall Fest is a fantastic opportunity to get acclimated with the area. “Maybe Gustavus students want to just use the Fall Fest as their introduction to the Arb, stop over for some food and play a game and then if you want to go hiking or biking or explore more of the arboretum you can do your own thing too,” Scott said.

New to the Fall Fest this year is the addition of games. According to Shirley Mellema, the Primary Coordinator for Fall Fest.

“We have teamed up with Alpha Sigma Tau, because since we have additional, we’re having games that we hope can be adjusted to suit older and little kids,” Shirley Mellema said.

All of the activities are possible through a combined effort of directors and students.

Don’t dismiss Family Weekend activities, even if you your family is unable to visit. Take advantage of the great opportunities that Gustavus provides us with!

-Rachael Manser