For years, the village has appeared on Central Campus once a year.

Veishea Village, a group effort of dozens of clubs and organizations, attracts hundreds to Central Campus to see a variety of booths and student works. This year was no different, as the village invited visitors to carnival games, cultural events and the Village Stage, which featured ISU Groove, ISU Hip Hop Dance Club and the ISU Scottish Country Dancers.

Cy’s Big Top

A main attraction of Veishea Village, Cy’s Big Top, features carnival games and prizes. It is the highlight for many younger visitors.

Children and parents found themselves the new owners of pet fish after playing games sponsored by Freshman Council and Women in Technical Studies.

Alice Harter, of Des Moines, has attended the Veishea celebration for 20 years. She spent the day with her daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren, who she said are now old enough to appreciate the attractions of Cy’s Big Top.

“I just enjoy every [Veishea],” Harter said. “We just go to the parade and the events on campus.

“[My grandchildren] are having a really good time here.”

Direct Smash

The Farm Operations Club, Collegiate 4-H and pre-veterinary medicine and agricultural education groups organized booths under a tent west of Cy’s Big Top. Alpha Zeta, an agriculture honor society, sponsored the tent, that sponsored a pie-throw, which gave Veishea-goers a chance to lob whipped cream pies in professors’ faces.

“For two bucks you can smash it right in their face,” said Matt Husman, sophomore in animal science of what the group called “Direct Smash.”

ISU students walking by sometimes recognized their professors and coughed up the cash to throw a pie. Younger participants were also eager to throw the pies. They needed a little help, though – Husman and Perrin took turns lifting those too small to throw the pies far enough.

“The little kids are actually the best,” said Melissa Perrin, junior in animal science.

Cultural Festival

The Cultural Festival provides ethnic groups on campus an opportunity to display artifacts from their native lands. Groups from Sudan, Egypt and India set up booths for their cultural displays.

Raza Ul-Mustafa, graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, told visitors about the geographic diversity of his home, Pakistan.

Ul-Mustafa spoke about the large posters of Pakistani mountains he displayed, as well as books that featured the country’s deserts.

The seashore on the southern coast is a sharp contrast to the north, which is home to some of the “world’s highest peaks,” Ul-Mustafa said.

Catapulting by the Campanile

For the fourth year, engineering honor society Tau Beta Pi sponsored its High School Catapult Competition northwest of the Campanile.

Five teams of Iowa high school students came with homemade trebuchets, devices to launch eggs at a target.

The past three years, the teams launched water balloons rather than eggs, said Tim Johnson, junior in agricultural engineering.

Why the switch to dairy, then? “We could have a more fun theme with the skillet as the target,” Johnson said.

After about 50 eggs were launched, Bettendorf high school students came out on top of the competition.

“We had a lot of fun doing it,” Johnson said.