Not everyone at Iowa State goes away for the summer, and those students who stay in Ames will get the chance to celebrate during the third-annual Ginkgo Festival.

“The Ginkgo Festival: A Celebration of Laughter and Family” will take place from July 11-13, offering food and activities for all ages. Rich Harter, of the Ames Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and executive director of the Ginkgo Festival, said it was decided three years ago that Ames needed a downtown summer festival.

“We wanted to create something that would offer entertainment for the entire family,” he said. “The festival will have something for everybody, including Ames residents and the ISU community.”

The celebration is named for the ginkgo trees which line Main St. Several years ago some businesses wanted to get rid of the trees due to their smell. Instead, the Ames residents decided to celebrate the trees by holding the festival.

The ginkgo tree, which originated in Asia, is one of the oldest trees on earth today as it is the only living member of a class of gymnosperms called ginkgoatae. Biologists say the tree would no longer be around if it were not cultivated by the Chinese.

The presenting sponsors for this year’s event are Firstar Bank, Mary Greeley Medical Center and the McFarland Clinic. Some of the weekend’s events include a hypnotist, Blues Guitarist Lonnie Brooks and a Midnight Madness Run, which attracted over 2,500 runners last year.

The Ginkgo Festival is a non-profit festival.