By Jonathan Coffman

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Hundreds of UK students roamed up and down Avenue of Champions Thursday evening participating in festivities at the Homecoming Street Fair.

The Student Activities Board partnered with Students Today, Alumni Tomorrow and TEAM WILDCAT to bring the new Homecoming Week event to campus.

The street was blocked off in front of Memorial Coliseum for activities like corn hole, an inflatable basketball goal and mechanical bull riding. Students such as interior design freshman Sydney Moeller took advantage of all the event had to offer.

“Bull riding was really hard,” Moeller said. “But this is really fun though. We weren’t expecting all this.”

Co-chair of traditions for STAT and TEAM WILDCAT Chanel Friday was in attendance helping students find their way around.

This is the first year the fair has been in existence, Friday said, and was due to an upgrade in Homecoming week’s usual structure of activities.

“The pep rally has always been here but we wanted to reinvent that in a more exciting way,” said Friday, an integrated strategic communication junior. “We have been trying to think of the things people would really like to do.”

Friday said that organization members divided up the work to cover more ground and ensure the event was fun for everyone.

STAT and TEAM WILDCAT member and integrated strategic communication junior Rachel Walker designed the free t-shirt that was given out, Friday said.

There were several performances throughout the night, including showcases from the Wildcat Marching Band and UK Dance Team. Many students were impressed with the level of energy, such as social work freshman Armando Luna.

“Coming out of high school, this is like a whole different level,” Luna said. “They’re all so good and more amped up than I’ve seen.”

While some students were not able to make it out to other events due to midterms, like media arts and studies freshman Tanner Sunny, they took pleasure in seeing the campus come together for the week’s festivities.

“I haven’t been able to go to as much as I would like,” Sunny said. “I did want to go to the Kitty Karnival. That looked cool. I like how they’ve included things all through the week.”

Students in attendance were wearing UK apparel, supporting the football team in anticipation with their clash against No. 1 ranked Mississippi State this weekend.

Sophomore football quarterback Patrick Towles thanked the crowd for their support.

“When I come out of that tunnel and see that student section full, it gets me hyped,” Towles said in the speech to the crowd. “We got number one Mississippi State this weekend, and we plan on beating them. Go Cats and beat State!”