For students looking for a hometown connection with the Ames community, WelcomeFest provided a great environment to see what Ames has to offer.

Ninety-five businesses, vendors, community groups and churches filled the Memorial Union’s Great Hall and Sun Room Wednesday night for the first WelcomeFest held in the newly remodeled Great Hall.

“WelcomeFest is the university’s opportunity to allow Ames businesses and services, the city of Ames, churches, non-profits to have an opportunity to show their services, and tell the students what they have to offer,” said George Micalone, program coordinator of the Memorial Union.

Micalone said student activities had no way of counting exactly how many people attended WelcomeFest, but he said they estimated between 3,000 and 3,500 students attended.

“We probably had 250 at least walk in the door when we opened,” Micalone said.

Whether it was signing up for a chance to win a free airplane ride from Hap’s Air Service, playing “Rock Band” at the Best Buy booth or picking up loads of free items throughout the Great Hall, students could definitely find something that the Ames community can offer them.

“The best thing I got was a free toothbrush from the [Thielen Student] Health Center booth,” said Khon Kavan, junior in pre-computer science and first time attendee of WelcomeFest. “It was great because I had planned on buying one.”

While most students gravitated toward booths offering free pizza and ice cream from Coldstone Creamery, one booth, not in the limelight, might have given students the best information on life in Ames by writing a book about life in the community.

Tamara Kuhn, author of a recently published book called “A Guide to Ames,” came to answer questions about Ames and hand out coupons for a discount on her book.

Kuhn, a lifelong resident of Ames, wrote the book to provide a directory, primarily for ISU students, of local businesses and restaurants in the community. Written with a great deal of student input, Kuhn said she hopes students will give her feedback so she can create the best guide possible for students.

“[The Guide has] indispensable things to most students,” Kuhn said. “It has where to get free food, for example, which is something students told us they wanted to know.”

Kuhn said there are 400,000 people who visit Ames each year, and this is her chance to share the attractions of her hometown.

“Every place is somebody else’s hometown. Ames happens to be my hometown, and I just wanted them to see Ames as their own hometown.”

ONLINE: Look for a video with this story at 1 p.m. Thursday.