Lines between students and city officials were blurred Monday as the two groups came together for a party.

The Government of the Student Body and the city of Ames hosted an event Monday evening at the Ames fire station at 132 Welch Ave. Music filled the air as free pizza and bottled water were given to students and residents of Ames.

Rain fell for the duration of the event – sometimes hard, sometimes not. Students took advantage of the breaks in rainfall to make it to the event.

“[We’re] very pleased with the turnout and the amount of people that continued to come out, due to rain,” said Brooks Nelson, outgoing director of special events for GSB and senior in public service and administration in agriculture.

Maggie Luttrell, GSB vice president, ex-officio City Council student liaison and senior in history, came up with the idea for the event. She spoke to City Council members about having something in the spring with the city that students could be a part of.

“The city does a welcome-back event in August, and this is where I came up with the idea,” Luttrell said.

The City Council required Luttrell to develop the event and propose a budget. She had a lot of support from the City Council and GSB.

Luttrell received $2,000 from the city of Ames and $1,500 from GSB for the event. The event was only budgeted at $2,800, most of which went to pay for the 130 pizzas offered to those in attendance.

The remainder of the money is set to be returned to the GSB senate discretionary fund.

A number of city officials came out to show their support and interact with the students to see how they feel about what may be going on.

“Having the opportunity to provide students with conversation is what the city wants to do more often,” said Matthew Goodman, at large city councilman.

“It’s important for us to be out here and important for the students to be out here as well,” he said.

Luttrell said the weather played a vital role in the attendance of the event.

“It is really hard to say how many people will come out; it really depends on the weather,” Luttrell said. “I am hoping around 200.”

Susan Gwiasda, public relations officer for the city of Ames, and Nelson were key to helping Luttrell with the planning process and the formation of the event.

Kure 88.5 deejays Dathan Brown, senior in journalism and mass communication, and Tyler Barrett, senior in political science, helped stimulate the atmosphere by providing the audience with music.

“Throughout the evening, students will be able to receive information ranging from city topics to GSB topics” Luttrell said.

John Pohlman, superintendent of the Ames Resource Recovery Plant, shared information with students about the plant.

He gave locations of where students can take items they don’t need or use anymore, which can range from furniture to clothing items.

“As students get ready to leave for the summer, we are providing them with pointers about what they can do with these items and how this can help them in the future, because they will know all about these resources that are available to them,” said Pohlman.

City officials also addressed some students’ concerns over tickets.

“We still want students to find about more about what we do and can offer them,” said Dennis Walton, process server/investigator for the city of Ames.

Luttrell considered the afternoon to be a success.

“It went very well, despite the weather, and it was something out of the ordinary, but it was something nice for students to be a part of,” Luttrell said.