Weather, off-road driving and concert locations will affect ISU employees during next week’s Veishea celebration.

Facilities Planning and Management provides services to take care of turf and grass throughout the year. When planning for an event like Veishea, turf damage prevention must be taken into account. When extra people are on campus, the threat of damage increases       — especially when bad weather is involved.

Bob Currie, assistant director of facilities services, recalled two years ago when the weather during Veishea was perfect, drawing a huge crowd to campus.

“The potential for campus to be damaged was ten-fold if it had rained or snowed,” Currie said. “It would have been disastrous.”

To reduce the amount of damage, Currie and other staff from the department meet with members of the Veishea executive board to plan for the coming event and create methods to reduce damage.

Les Lawson, campus services manager and adviser to several groups within Veishea, said a plan is in place to use smaller vehicles like John Deere Gators to transport materials. Lawson works closely with the Veishea operations committee to set up a plan.

An issue in the past was groups and organizations bringing in materials for displays. Mike Doran, co-chairman of the Veishea operations committee and senior in agronomy, said people would use trucks to transport their supplies across campus. The larger trucks would tear up the grass, especially in damp weather — leaving a mess for campus services to clean up after the event.

Doran also said a priority is to get as many events as possible on concrete rather than turf.

Events that have grown too large for Central Campus: Battle of the Bands and Live @ Veishea have been moved to the Molecular Biology Building parking lot, which Lawson said will help minimize damage that could potentially have happened on the turf.

Concerts and displays also require electrical power. Tony Selch, manager of electrical distribution services, assists the operations committee with setting up power supplies. Besides providing power boxes at locations where groups need electricity, he determines whether the amount of power running underground will be enough for certain events. For example, the concerts at the Molecular Biology location will require a generator to provide enough energy to run sound amplifiers and stage lights.

Selch said the electrical setup for students and groups has improved dramatically in the last 10 years thanks to planning for the future.

“Twenty years ago, there wasn’t a whole lot [of electrical outlets] provided to students,” Selch said. “There were cords running out of Marston and Curtiss that were wrapped around trees and light poles.”

Selch and his staff also spend time performing locates during Veishea week, which involve mapping out the electrical, phone and gas lines that might become damaged by ground stakes associated with tents and displays.

Other aspects of campus will be different during Veishea week, including general construction and routine maintenance. Currie said construction contractors have been asked to “button up their sites” and limit some of their activities to prevent interference with the planned Veishea activities.

Campus Services staff will also change its weekly schedule by limiting maintenance activity in busier areas, including Central Campus. Although trash pickup is the responsibility of the Veishea operations committee, Currie said staff campus services staff might take some time to operate the street sweeper and pick up trash at various times.

Ultimately, cooperation and planning with the Veishea operations committee is vital for Currie and the rest of the campus services staff. He said planning for this year’s celebration began last fall, when representatives from Facilities Planning and Management met with members from the Veishea executive board to discuss their goals, budget challenges and last year’s event.

“They put in a very good effort at pre-planning and organization and looking out for potential problems,” Currie said.