Homecoming Week is a highly celebrated tradition to not only students, but faculty and alumni as well. This year, it ran October 13-18, culminating with the football game against the North Carolina State. The Students Activities Board held a handful of events, both on campus and off, to promote homecoming and show appreciation for the Cardinals. Student involvement was highly encouraged with games, competitions and even a talent show to highlight Cardinal pride outside of athletics.

Here’s a quick run through of the campus events, hosted by the Students Activities Board.

Nearly Naked Mile — Oct. 13

Eight teams consisting of different organizations on campus ran the Nearly Naked Mile, although, anyone who donated an article of clothing could participate in the run through campus. The clothes collected would later be delivered to the Salvation Army. This event debuted last year, when SAB member Drew Shever first added it to Spirit Week.

“We take all precautions for safety,” Shever said. “It’s more about the charitable aspect than the competition.”

Participants didn’t have to strip down completely unless they wanted to. Rules stated, “bathing suit areas must be covered.” For those unwilling to bare all, SAB recommended wearing a costume for fun.

Sophomores Shelby Dockery and Tiffany Chea showed up in matching tutus, ready to walk around campus with their sorority.

“I like this tradition,” Dockery said. “In a way, it promotes self confidence. But you can also wear clothes if you want.”

“It’s also a good stress relief after midterms,” Chea added. As the first event, the Nearly Naked Mile did a great job getting students excited about the upcoming game, despite a looming tornado watch.

Wear Read to be Fed — Oct. 14

Students were encouraged to wear red, not only to show support for their favorite team, but to get free food at the Red Barn. The menu consisted of hotdogs, hamburgers and veggie burgers. Over 700 people showed up, marking it as one of the biggest turnouts of the week. The volunteers, mostly students in SAB, worked hard to make sure everything went smoothly and everyone was fed. The homecoming court’s Top Five men and women were also announced at the event: Jared Simpson, Kene Onyekwuluje, Alex Dotsey, Lorenzo Mauldin, Tra Taylor, Allie Funk, Katie George, Katy Ashby, Kristi Knop and Ruthie Wooten.

Spirit Games — Oct. 15

The  Spirit Games were held in the old SAC gym. The same eight teams that participated in the Nearly Naked Mile played in the games as well. The games consisted of a hula hoop race, egg toss, three-legged race and a few others. The winning team was the Kappa Sigma, Chi Omega and Triangle team.

Sophomore Ben Taussig, also a member of SAB, recalled the Spirit Games as being his favorite memory from this year’s Homecoming week.

“I was really impressed with the turnout,” he said. “There was a lot of energy and everyone was really into it.”

Homecoming Parade — Oct. 16

The talent show took place in the SAC Multipurpose Room. It was the highly anticipated talent show, with eight acts.

“I can’t wait to watch it. My excitement has been building up all week,” senior Grant McKenzie said. He was one of the 450 attendees who came to watch the talent show — a very large crowd, despite other campus events occurring at the same time.

Junior Todd Lucas and freshman Alex Detenber showed up to support their friend, Tombo Owen. Owen was the only act that wasn’t a musical number. Instead, he opted for a ribbon dance, which received much praise from attendees.

“That was spectacular,” Taussig said, recalling the event.

The winner of the talent show Kappa Delta sorority, with their performance of ‘She Will Be Loved’ with Sigma Chi fraternity.

Several other events were more alumni based and weren’t restricted to campus, including Ball on the Belle (which was held aboard the Belle of Louisville), the Alumni Awards Celebration and Alumni Tailgate, which took place right before the game.

Side note: If you were unaware of some of the events taking place, it might be because somebody stole the homecoming banner. But no worries, it was returned by the end of the week.