As most of us know by now, it’s an important weekend on the ISU calendar. Veishea is celebrating its 80th anniversary, and after all the controversy this event has seen in the past few years, I’m just glad it’s still around.

Actually, some of the earliest memories I have are of catching candy from the parade when I couldn’t have been more than two or three. Somehow that’s the only part I remember, but I’m sure it was great fun to go to Veishea, even though I’m pretty sure I didn’t get any beer.

But of course, that’s not all it’s about. And while I’m sure we’re all pretty glad not to be “Gettin’ Jischke wit it,” there’s still a lot of great fun events going on this weekend.

I’ll bet you won’t even have to look too hard to find something of interest, no matter what your taste.

For the sports inclined, there are all the tournaments – everything from indoor soccer to flag football to the various forms of basketball. None of them costs more than $20 to enter, and all of them promise a lot of fun. If you’re more of the watching rather than playing type, then there’s the spring football game at Jack Trice, the slam-dunk and 3-point contests on Welch Avenue.

There’s also a lot of non-sports related entertainment going on as well. “Stars Over Veishea” is putting on its production of “Grease,” a classic musical that ought to be a lot of fun.

“Dew the Rec” has comedian Jay Mohr – not necessarily my first choice, but then again that was what I thought when I passed on Dave Chappelle a couple of years back. And I have to say that’s one of my great regrets in my entertainment life.

For music, there’s the Battle of the Bands and “Rock the Rec” with Soul Asylum and Ultimate Fakebook.

I know you’re probably thinking of how you’ve never heard of these bands, but maybe these guys will be famous someday. In any case, maybe good attendance will get us a better band next year, and it’s not like it’d be realistic for us to be expecting Metallica.

Look at it this way – at least we’re not stuck with Vertical Horizon.

Also, there’s something that ought to be a universal interest – the food.

We’ve got the traditional cherry pies and the pancake breakfast, plus Taste of Veishea with all the great food.

Then there’s the faculty cook-off and, for a little variety, the international food fair. I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be needing to use the rec as more than a venue for entertainment next week.

In addition to all of this there will be the parade on Saturday afternoon, as well as the Veishea village all over campus with various open houses, the cultural festival and Cy’s Big Top for the kids.

So it’s pretty clear that there is no shortage of activities on campus this weekend.

Personally, I don’t know how much of it I’ll see, but I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to keep myself occupied.

It shouldn’t be necessary for us students to start riots or burn couches to have a good time during Veishea, and after 80 years of fun, it’d be a shame to stop now.

Emeka Anyanwu is a senior in electrical engineering from Ames.