With Veishea being such a large event, it takes a lot of planning and preparing to make the event go smoothly. This year, Veishea committee members have been working on some new aspects to add to the lineup of activities.

Anyone who is present for this year’s Veishea will have a variety of things to look forward to including: updates to Veishea Village, a facelift for the annual Veishea parade, more music than ever before and even a Kids’ Corner.

The members of the Veishea committee have also worked to bring a few familiar faces to campus, including Scott Siepker, who is commonly known for his “Iowa Nice” YouTube videos.

“Our Executive Board has been incredible this year,” said Ashleigh Belin, 2013 public relations co-chair and senior in marketing. Belin said the Veishea committee members have all “stepped up their game” this year.

“Veishea Village helped bring about more sign-ups than we’ve seen in recent years, parade has been working tirelessly to help promote float building, tournaments are working on a 5k run/walk that will end by running the parade route and entertainment has been lining up great acts that appeal to a wide audience.”

Held on April 20, 2013, the Veishea parade “has been a cornerstone and highlight in the yearly celebration of Iowa State,” according to the Veishea web page.

The parade will have more than 100 entries, Belin said. Rebecca Ahlers, 2013 parade co-chairwoman, said the committee has been working to make this year’s parade a success.

They applied for a grant last fall from the Ames Convention and Visitors Bureau and offered it to groups that have never had a float in the parade before. They also eliminated the traditional and nontraditional float categories and this year are having a generic float category.

“To amp up the parade, we have been trying to recruit more float entries as well as balloon entries,” Ahlers said. “We will be hosting a float-building location during the week of Veishea for organizations to come in and get help making their floats ready for the parade.”

This year’s Live @ Veishea concerts will have a different layout than in years past. This year, the Veishea executive board is pushing a lineup that is more genre-based.

With a lineup April 19 consisting of such performers as Easton Corbin, Jana Kramer, Kris Allen and Andrew Allen, the lineup is expected to appeal to fans of country and rock.

With a lineup on April 20 made up of B.o.B, Grouplove, The Maine, Jukebox the Ghost, Saints of Valory and Blessed Feathers, the lineup is geared toward hip-hop, pop and indie.

“The reasoning for pushing a lineup that is more genre-matched is less of that there were issues in the past, and more that the bands complement each other well in the lineup’s succession,” said Jason Schuster, Veishea 2013 Village co-chair and senior in agricultural engineering. “We’re proud of this year’s Live @ Veishea lineup and feel we are meeting the musical entertainment needs for the overall student body.”

This year there will also be a free concert at 9 p.m. April 18 in the Great Hall, featuring acoustic/indie singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman, and Lee DeWyze with Jillette Johnson.

DeWyze is a pop-rock singer-songwriter and the season nine winner of “American Idol.” Johnson is a pop singer-songwriter and pianist. Her sound is expected to appeal to fans of Adele, Christina Perri and Vanessa Carlton.

Schuster said this year’s Veishea Village will be one of the largest ever.

The Veishea Village committee changed it up so there is no registration fee this year, which helped generate more entries. Also the name used in previous years, “Ames Neighborhood” got changed to Veishea Main Street.

“As a result of reaching out to organizations and departments, we have [more than] 90 participants registered for Veishea Village, making it one of the largest Veishea Village events ever,” Schuster said.

“Veishea Main Street has seen a boost in involvement from years past. Veishea Village and Veishea Main Street allow for fun interaction between the public, ISU organizations and departments, and local businesses.”

Veishea Village will also team up with the Stem Festival this year to “celebrate a variety of booths dealing with science, technology, engineering and math. These include pop-up shows, a variety of games, enjoying marshmallows frozen in liquid nitrogen and even arm wrestling with Smokey the Bear,” according to the public relations committee.

Veishea Village will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 20 on campus.