If you’re a student whose parents are visiting this weekend for Binghamton University’s open house, it can be difficult to figure out which events will entertain the family and which are worth skipping. Check out our Family Weekend calendar to determine how to best introduce — or reintroduce — BU to your parents.
Friday
10 a.m. – University Book Sale at Glenn G. Bartle Library — University Libraries’ annual book sale will take place in the East Reading Room of Bartle Library. The sale hosts a wide range of fiction and nonfiction texts, and while your parents shop for the next addition to their bookshelf, students can find hidden gems in $3 required textbooks on sale every year.
7:45 p.m. – Evening Walk in the Nature Preserve — Join Nature Preserve tour guides for a twilight walk in BU’s largest environmental resource. The guides will focus their tour around nocturnal animals that reside in the Preserve.
Saturday
Noon – Zoomobile at the University Union Lobby — If you visit the lobby of the Union, you and your family can meet the animals of the Binghamton Zoo at Ross Park. While their famous giraffe, April, will likely not be present, many of the smaller animals will be there.
3 p.m. – Family Weekend Concert at the Osterhout Concert Theater — Hear each of Binghamton’s musical ensembles — the University Symphony Orchestra, University Wind Symphony, Harpur Chorale, Women’s Chorus and Chamber Singers — all at once in this concert. The music will be in part a tribute to the work of Leonard Bernstein.
9:30 p.m. – Second City Improv Group at the Events Center — The Chicago-based comedy group — of which famous comedians, including Tina Fey and Steven Colbert, are alumni — will be making a stop in its tour at Binghamton. Attend to see up-and-coming comedians before they make it big at the late-night shows and Netflix specials.
Sunday
8:00 a.m. — Seventh Annual Running with the Goats at the Tillman Lobby — A long-standing Family Weekend tradition, the University invites families to a 2.6-mile run (or walk) for charity. While there are no goats actually present, the event raises funds to purchase goats for the Maasai people in Kenya.