WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue football team will wrap up spring practice with its annual Black & Gold Game on Saturday, April 18. The event is free and will be held in Ross-Ade Stadium.

The game starts at 1 p.m. Public parking is available in the lots north of the stadium at no charge. The stadium gates open at noon.

Complimentary roster cards will be available to fans, as will 2009 posters and schedule cards.

Concession stands will be open.

Head coach Danny Hope's 2009 Boilermakers wrap up spring practice with the annual Black & Gold Game on April 18.

Saturday’s events begin with the Purdue Cancer Center Challenge at 8:30 a.m. The 5K run/walk begins and ends at Ross-Ade. Head coach Danny Hope is the event’s spokesman and is asking Boilermaker fans to “Take the Challenge, Get Up, Get Fit and Give Back” by raising funds for cancer research at Purdue.

The John Purdue Club Chili Bowl will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the A parking lot south of Ross-Ade. For just $5 (children 6 and under are free), fans can sample and judge the best chili in the Lafayette-West Lafayette area.

Family Fun Fest runs from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Ross-Ade. Gate A, located at the southeast corner of the stadium, will open at 10:30 a.m. for registration. Family Fun Fest is open to all youth with adult supervision. Youngsters will be able to participate in the following six interactive stations run by the football team:

• Catching a football from the quarterbacks
• Kicking a field goal with the kickers
• Accuracy throw with the wide receivers
• Dummy tackling with the defensive backs and linebackers
• Obstacle course with the offensive and defensive linemen
• Bouncy house with the special teams

Once again, many former players will be on hand for the day’s festivities, and they will be recognized.

The Purdue Pride Team Store will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition, a clearance sale tent will be set up outside the Team Store at the northeast corner of Ross-Ade, with select merchandise discounted 25 to 75 percent. A trailer will be open beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the south end zone, as well.

The Local Mountain Coffee Shop will open to the public following the cancer challenge race and remain open throughout the day.

Following the game, all current players will sign autographs on the field, as will some of the former Boilermakers currently playing in the NFL who are back. Details will be announced via the public-address system.

The Athletic Ticket Office will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. During these hours only, fans can purchase south end zone tickets for the 2009 home opener against Toledo on Sept. 5 for just $5 apiece.

April 18 will be an exciting day on campus, as the Purdue baseball, men’s golf, softball, women’s tennis, men’s and women’s track and field and volleyball teams all have home events, and Spring Fest gets under way.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — From animals to insects and engineering to science, Purdue University’s Spring Fest proves that learning can be fun. The annual family festival takes place 10a to 4p April 18 and 19 on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. The event is free.

A Spring Fest attendee poses with a much, much larger than life grasshopper at last year's event. (Photo from Spring Fest Web site)

“Spring Fest is a fun way to engage with faculty, staff and students through educational activities,” said Danica Kirkpatrick, Spring Fest coordinator. “We have had over 40,000 attendees when the weather cooperates.”

Nine Purdue colleges and schools, Purdue Discovery Park, Purdue Libraries and the Indiana University School of Medicine are sponsoring games and activities.

The 19th annual Entomology Bug Bowl, a popular Spring Fest event, will feature a variety of insect-related activities and food. Cricket spitting and cockroach races again are headline events.

Local celebrities will judge the best insect performances during Bug Bowl Follies, a spoof of the “American Idol” television show. Two Bug Bowl Follies shows are scheduled, at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. April 18, in Fowler Hall. Contestants will perform individually or in groups and show talent that incorporates insects through song, dance or other ways.

Purdue Libraries will celebrate the university’s 140th anniversary from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 18. Visitors can view an exhibit about university founder John Purdue and Purdue history.

Delta Lambda Phi will feature Construction Madness, where guests can learn how to make structures out of recyclable goods, Kirkpatrick said.

Discovery Park will offer games and activities that demonstrate brain functions, how beetles drink water in the desert, producing electricity with a bike, and much more.

The Purdue College of Agriculture invites festival goers to cheer on their favorite fish at the goldfish races, jump into a game of animal Twister, pet a rabbit, watch a rocket launch and make an Earth Day bracelet.

Among the dozens of other Spring Fest activities planned are Boilermaker Special rides, Physics FunFest, Vet Olympics, spay/neuter demonstration, Purdue Bluegrass Band, sheep shearing and equine treadmill demonstrations, Community Day at the new Grand Prix track and a scavenger hunt.

College of Agriculture departments with activities and displays include Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Agricultural Economics, Agronomy, Animal Sciences, Biochemistry, Botany and Plant Pathology, Entomology, Food Science, Forestry and Natural Resources, Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, and Youth Development and Agricultural Education.

Other Spring Fest participants include Purdue’s colleges of Science, Consumer and Family Sciences, Education, Liberal Arts, Engineering and Technology; and Purdue’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Krannert School of Management.

“This year Spring Fest will be ‘greener’ with our recycling program and using less paper,” Kirkpatrick said.

Spring Fest will take place regardless of the weather. No pets are allowed.

For more information and a complete list of Spring Fest activities, visit http://www.purdue.edu/springfest or call 1-888-EXT-INFO (398-4636). To download questions for the scavenger hunts on both festival days, visit http://www.ces.purdue.edu/sfest/games/scavenger.html

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Here are events scheduled for this weekend, Friday, April 11 through Sunday, April 13 on the Purdue University West Lafayette campus.

Friday, April 11

– PAJAMA (Purdue Arts Jewelry and Metals Association) spring jewelry sale. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Under mural, Stewart Center.

– Faculty symposia. 10 a.m.-noon. Presidential inaugural events. Titles, moderators and locations below. For names of panelists, see www.purdue.edu/inauguration and click Schedule.

—- Faculty symposium: “Serious Games for Serious Learning: Harnessing the Digital Generation.” Commons, Lawson Computer Science Building Commons. Moderator: Rusty Rueff, CEO of SNOCAP Inc., former executive VP of human resources for Electronic Arts (EA).

—- Faculty symposium: “Building a New Planet.” Auditorium, Pfendler Hall. Moderator: Moira Gunn, founder and host of Public Radio’s “Tech Nation” and “BioTech Nation.”

—- Faculty symposium: “Tiny Technologies for Huge Impacts on Health.” Room B071, Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering. Moderator: Timothy Sands, the Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering and director of Birck Nanotechnology Center.

– Inauguration of France A. Córdova as 11th president of Purdue University. 2-4 p.m. Elliott Hall of Music. Tickets are required and are free at campus box offices in Elliott and Stewart Center; 49-43933 or (800) 914-7469. Live telecast at campuses in Purdue system: Purdue North Central, LSF 002; Purdue Calumet, GYTE 103 and 107; IPFW, Kettler Hall G22; IUPUI, TBD. www.purdue.edu/inauguration/

– Haraka Fest. Black Cultural Center. 7 p.m. BCC.

– Purdue Theatre. “Hair” by James Rado, Gerome Ragni and Galt McDermott. Marquee Series. 7:30 p.m. April 10-12, 17-19; 3 p.m. April 13; midnight (end of day) April 12, 18. Nancy T. Hansen Theatre, Pao Hall. Tickets: public, $18; 62+ seniors, $15; students, $12. Recommended for mature audiences.

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