This year everyone’s favorite cardinal and gold mascot is turning 50.

A birthday bash will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday at the Memorial Union Terrace to celebrate Cy’s birthday.

The Student Alumni Leadership Council is hosting the casual celebration for the entire Ames community, and will provide food and live music.

Cy’s birthday party has been anticipated by SALC for the past nine months, said Erin McKeown, senior in marketing and general co-chairwoman.

“We’ve spent a tremendous amount of hours on this event,” McKeown said. “We’ve been planning this celebration since January.”

Approximately 500 people are expected to attend the event, where the Des Moines band Kentucky Fried Mullet will perform. ISU Dining Services will cater the event, and food can be purchased for $2 with a Homecoming button and $5 without a button. The buttons are currently on sale in the Union.

Claire Masker, senior in animal science and spokeswoman for SALC, said she is encouraging students to attend the bash to help kick off Homecoming festivities.

Cy debuted as the ISU athletic mascot in 1954. Members of ISU Pep Council, an organization from the ’50s that promoted school spirit, thought that Iowa State needed a mascot. They thought a tornado, or cyclone, would not make a good mascot.

Because the university’s team colors are cardinal and gold, the Pep Council decided to make the mascot a cardinal, according to the ISU Alumni Association’s Web site, www.isualum.org.

A name-the-bird contest followed, and the name “Cy” was entered by 17 people, so it was the obvious choice.

The first Cy costume was made out of an aluminum frame and covered with a durable velvet-like material, according to Daily archives. In the ’50s and ’60s the applicants for Cy had to be at least 6-foot-1 and have a 2.00 or better GPA.

To be part of the mascot squad today, applicants are required to perform a 2-minute skit with music and an improvisational routine, as well as be able to strut for the judges.

Leigh Streit, senior in architecture, has been Cy for two years. Streit said that best part about being a mascot is being anonymous.

“You’re Cy, nobody tells you what to do,” he said.