JSU's Homecoming Week!

By: Deanna Jones, JSU Student (2011-2015)

HOMECOMING! It’s that time again. The city of Jacksonville is abuzz, and there’s excitement in the air. Like usual, there’s lots of fun and thrilling things to do leading up to the big game on October 31^st. That’s right! JSU’s Homecoming is on Halloween! Let’s start getting excited for the extra spooky, extra thrilling, Homecoming week!

On Thursday, October 29^th, Homecoming week will kick off with the Homecoming pep-rally, starting at 8 p.m., at the JSU Stadium.  Come on thru and bring your well-wishes and your Jacksonville State University spirit!

Friday, October 30^th, JSU welcomes the Class of 1965 for their 50^th Golden Gamecock Reunion. It will be taking place at the Houston Cole Library at 12 p.m.  At 6 – 8 p.m., JSU will be hosting the ROTC Alumni Banquet at the Houston Cole Library.  Also, at 6:30 p.m., the Alumni House will be hosting the Students Today Alumni Tomorrow/Student Alumni Association (STAT/SAA) 10^th Reunion. Come meet up and reminisce with some of former classmates!

Make sure you support JSU’s Greek life. On the 30^th, NPHC will be having a step show at the Leone Cole Auditorium beginning 7 p.m. It will be $5 in advance and $10 at the door.

What are you doing for Halloween? You better be coming to Jacksonville! There will be a whole day’s worth of activities! Kicking the day off is the 1955 Refrigerator Bowl Team Reunion. This will go from 8:30 – 10 a.m. at the Alumni House.  Starting at 10 a.m., the JSU Field School is hosting the Spookapalooza at Desoto State Park in Fort Payne. There will be storytelling, mask making, and the admission is FREE! Stop by for some Halloween fun! Also, starting at 10 a.m., the JSU Encore Show Choir & Gospel Choir will combine their abilities and put on a show at the Mason Hall Performance Center.

The Homecoming Parade will begin at 10:30. The Parade marches down Pelham Street. It could get a little chilly!

To keep with the Halloween theme, the Little River Canyon Field School will be hosting the “Listen, Look and Learn: Bats Alive!” Fun for kids as well as adults! If you have any questions, you can visit the JSU Field Day Facebook page.

JSU will be teaming off against Eastern Kentucky University, (EKU). With kicks off scheduled for 1 p.m. Come and enjoy an always thrilling game of football! Make sure to arrive early foo good parking and tailgating!

After all the excitement, the night will wind down with a continuation of “Spookapalooza: Storytellin’ Campfire Talk.” There will be Spooky stories that are guaranteed to give you shivers.

Come and show your support for JSU! Also, have a safe and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

FatTire Fest: Interview with Amie Hinton

By: Deanna Jones, JSU Student (2011-2015)

On October 9, Amie Hinton, Program Director of the Coldwater FatTire Fest, sat down to discuss some of the events that will be going on at the festival. It begins Friday, October 16, at Zinn Park, where a shuttle will take you to the Coldwater Trail, located in Anniston, Alabama. The festival will continue until Sunday, October 18^th.

Can you give some information about the FatTire Fest?

Yes, the festival is for mountain bikers of all different levels of riding. From beginner on up to your more professional style riders. It is a time for riders to come together, have fun, ride and enjoy being outside. It’s also a time to utilize the Coldwater trail. There’s a lot of people that haven’t ridden the mountain yet, so it give them an opportunity to come and enjoy the trail. It is also a great opportunity to promote the resources that we have here in Calhoun County.

There will also be coordinated group rides, some mountain bike games, live music, a beer garden, and camping.  

My next question was on some of the events that will be taking place there like: night rides, live music, other group rides. Can you expand a bit on some of those?

Yes, the night rides are when cyclist go out on the trails at night. They will have headlamps for the dark, and it’s really about the thrill of riding at night. There will be log pulls with the bikes and other mountain bike oriented games. We’ll have things like a movie night on Friday night. There’s a lot of things that will be going on during the day time at the beer garden. We have four different groups playing. There will two on Saturday and two on Sunday. The beer garden will be set up with table so people can eat and enjoy beer from the local breweries. Anniston’s own Cheaha Brewery and Back Forty Brewery, located out of Gadsden, will be providing that.  

 

I was talking to you the other day about a group called the Trail Angles. Can you talk to me about the group and how they got started?  

Yes, the Trail Angels is an all-female riding group. It’s just to encourage and promote women to ride. It started with me and a couple of my friends who were beginner mountain bikers. We were honestly a little intimidated to ride with the larger crowds and the guys who have been riding for a long time. We felt like we couldn’t keep up and just needed to figure things out. It started that way and just kept growing from women who were interested and who were enjoying the social aspect of riding as well as being active. It’s just a comfortable place for women who are beginners to feel less intimidated. We do have women riders who are more experience, but we are sure that there is someone there for the beginners, so they do not get left behind.

Can people still register for the event? Where can they go to do so?

Absolutely. They can register on the website and they can also register the day of. T-shirts are first come first serve.

Where can people go to find out more about this event and other events coming up?

They can go to the Northeast Alabama Bicycle Association(NEABA) website. They can also go to the International Mountain Bicycling Association(IMBA) website that list the different mountain biking events as well.  

Thank you again to Amie Hinton for taking the time to speak to me about the FatTire Fest coming up on October 16-18. If you are interested in in this event and other mountain biking events, links are provided though out the interview and down below:

NEABA: http://www.neaba.net/

IMBA: https://www.imba.com/

FatTire Fest: http://www.cwmfattirefest.com/