More than 200 students helped put together this year’s Veishea celebration, and most of them considered it a success.

Jessica Carlson and Nate Meier, Veishea committee general co-chairpersons, expressed their approval of Friday’s and Saturday’s events at a press conference Sunday.

“We’ve had so many people coming up to us saying this was by far the best Veishea parade they’d seen, Taste of Veishea, and Veishea Village,” Carlson said.

An estimated 50,000 viewers turned out for the parade, lining up to see floats, balloons and marching bands. One viewer, Dean Stocker, 72, from Albia, said he has been participating in Veishea since he attended Iowa State in 1950.

“The parade is still the emphasis, which hasn’t changed over the years,” Stocker said. “It’s quite great that students go through all the effort to put this together.”

Ben Cox, senior in history, said he didn’t necessarily enjoy the parade in previous years, but this one was much more interesting.

“I don’t know what it is. It might be the great weather, or the way it was put together this year, but I’m definitely enjoying this parade,” Cox said.

The Student Alumni Leadership Council won first place against 12 other floats in the non-traditional float contest for their celebration of Cy’s 50th birthday. The float included a 5-foot-tall birthday cake and Cy himself.

Veishea Village was also considered a success by Veishea committee members, with 100 student organizations participating in the event.

One organization drew a large crowd with its jousting and medieval attire. The student chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval re-creationist group, displayed a re-enactment of a medieval fair. The time period for the fair was between A.D. 600 and 1600, and was complete with jousting matches and villagers.

“This is our hobby, and it’s always a lot of fun at Veishea,” said Christina Kitson, president of the Student Society for Creative Anachronism. “If you like history, you’d like this, because we try to keep everything historically accurate.”

Another display that attracted attention was a giant (60-foot-long) replica of a fin whale displayed by the Marine Biology Club. Informational tours were given of the inside of the whale until 1:30 p.m. when it was closed due to the wind, and the group continued to inform onlookers of their display from outside the whale.

“In my opinion, there’s nothing cooler than whales,” said Emily Mollman, president of the Marine Biology Club. “Veishea Village was a great opportunity for us to bring some of that to people of all ages and interests.”

Mollman said this was the first year the Marine Biology Club was at Veishea Village.

Taste of Veishea on Welch Avenue had simulated skydiving for the first time. People could sign up for time to get into the chamber that had a large fan underneath creating wind that would be similar to a skydiving experience.

This year, the Taste Stage was also host to The Battle of the Bands and other musical and comedic performances throughout Friday and Saturday.

Those out having fun had to head for cover at around 10:15 p.m. Friday when rain and 70 mph wind gusts shut down most of Welch Avenue, including food vendors and rides, until approximately 11:30 p.m.

This created a problem for Battle of the Bands, which was moved to the Maintenance Shop in the Memorial Union due to the weather.

Jacqueline Haylett, senior in psychology and Veishea research director, said it was still a good show, despite the change in plans.

“The only downside was that the M-Shop was at capacity, so people had to wait in line. If it had stayed outside, anyone could’ve watched,” Haylett said.

Matthew Goodman, owner of Smiles & Gyros, shut down both of his gyro stands for approximately an hour and a half due to the weather.

“The stand almost blew over, it was so windy,” Goodman said. “The wind started blowing and everything pretty much just shut down.”

Goodman said he sent his employees working the outdoor gyro stands to find shelter wherever they could.

Mike Roby, senior in marketing, said he had a close call when the mechanical bull he was about to ride suddenly lifted off the ground from the wind.

“I had just got on the bull, and the worker looked at me in the eyes and said, ‘Get off the bull now,'” he said. “I didn’t know what was going on, but I did what the guy said and just as I got off, the whole bull was lifted off the ground and flew at me. Luckily, it hit a close tree and fell back down.”