Sunburned bodies, cherry pies and staying away from the carnival are just a few student memories of past Veishea celebrations.

“I remember always going to the parade and getting out of school on Fridays. Our parents would always write notes for us,” said Mindy Wilson, junior in music education.

She said the weather was never good during the parade – it was always too hot or raining.

“You could always tell who went to the parade from how sunburnt they were,” Wilson said.

Kathy Craig, Veishea general co-chair, said she has been a regular at the parade since she was born. She has a picture of herself bundled up in a snowsuit as a 2-year-old at the annual event.

“I thought [Veishea] was something I always wanted to do and tried to work for because I thought it would be fun,” said Craig, senior in Spanish.

Many students also remember the variety of food served at Veishea.

“We’d always have cherry pies at Family and Consumer Sciences,” Wilson said.

She said she didn’t go to the carnival until her freshman year at Iowa State because her parents wouldn’t allow her to be there.

“I remember my parents would never let us go to the carnival at night. They said there would be a bunch of drunk college students there,” she said.

Once she came to college, Wilson said she got more involved in Veishea because she was in a sorority. While involved with the house, she worked on floats for the celebration.

“I’m in Stars Over Veishea this year. We are putting on the musical “Oklahoma!” and I am the accompanist,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Wilson said the musical will keep her busy all three days, but she is definitely making time to go to the parade.

Although she enjoys Veishea, she said she thinks the celebration has changed.

“To me it used to be a lot more fun,” Wilson said. “I don’t know if that’s because I was younger or because it’s dry and everybody leaves.”

People don’t need to drink to have fun, Wilson said, and suggested students create their own fun during Veishea.

“I think students feel like they have to walk on egg shells a lot,” she said.

Zeb McMillan, senior in biology, said there has been a big difference in the crowd attending the Veishea functions, as he’s seen mostly freshmen in the past two years.

“In the past, it seemed like a multi-age group,” he said. “It was a good social event.”

McMillan also said he thought Veishea has become too controlled to be considered a student-run event.

“When they advertised it to non-students, they made it sound like it was student-run, when it really wasn’t,” he said.

But Kirk Lynch, sophomore in animal science, said he thinks Veishea is changing for the better.

“You see more of what Iowa State actually is now. You see more of the foundation of why it started,” he said.

Lynch said he is looking forward to this year’s celebration.

“I think it’s improving every year,” he said.