More than 100 “homeless” ISU students slept in self-made shanties Friday to mark the closing of Towers residence halls.

ISU students and members of the Ames community said farewell to Towers on Friday and Saturday, in the first-ever Shantytown event.

“This is an event for people to come and hang out and raise some money for a good cause,” said Brendan Nolan, who was elected mayor of Shantytown. “We want to bring the Towers community together one last time.”

The closing of Towers means the loss of a very unique and important part of the ISU community, said Nolan, sophomore in management.

For many ISU students and alumni, the closing of Towers is a big loss, and its closing will have a negative impact on the ISU student body and overall atmosphere of the university, said Brian Collins, event organizer.

“Towers has a very unique feel to it. It’s an ISU residence hall that’s more or less off campus … with all the benefits of being on-campus housing. It’s the best of both worlds,” said Collins, junior in biology.

The open-to-the-public event included a shanty-building contest, a hobo stew feed, university speakers, carnival games and a battle of the bands contest.

All proceeds and donations collected at the event are being donated to the Habitat for Humanity of Central Iowa, a nonprofit organization that aims to eliminate poverty-level housing in Iowa and provide in-need families with up-to-par shelter.

Collins said he came up with the idea for the Shantytown event in a group exercise in Towers Residence Halls Community Adviser training before the beginning of last fall semester, developing new residence-hall traditions.

“We wanted to celebrate Towers in a fun way, and later decided to make it benefit a good cause, too,” Collins said. “It’s also a great way to take advantage of the nice weather.”

The idea to develop the event quickly gained popularity and support from other Towers CAs, ISU students and faculty members, Collins said.

“Brian [Collins] and I started working on this event the first week of this semester,” said Ryan Doll, event organizer and junior in political science.

“Our main goal is trying to make some last good memories before Towers closes.”

Ashley Hartz, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences – open option and Shantytown Committee member, said a lot of time and planning went into the event.

Tom Dougherty, freshman in pre-business, attended the event.

“I saw a bunch of flyers around campus and wanted to see what it was all about,” he said.

The event was a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon, but turnout was surprising low, Dougherty said.

Jesse Bries, senior in electrical engineering said the event was a success in raising money for the Habitat for Humanity.

But, he said, fewer ISU students and community members participated than were expected.

To build the shanty village, ISU students used more than a ton of cardboard, donated by Mid America Recycling of Des Moines, said Ben Barry, junior in industrial technology.

“All the shanties will be torn down after the event, and the cardboard will be taken back to Mid America Recycling,” he said.

Although originally planned to be a new ISU tradition, with the closing of Towers, the possibility of another Shantytown event is uncertain.