Plenty of things to do and see during Family Weekend

An eclectic variety of events, from music performances to athletic contests to a breakfast honoring scholarship recipients, will generate loads of excitement for students and their family members during Family Weekend 2018. The popular campus-wide event runs Friday through Sunday, Sept. 28-30.

There are hundreds of memories to be made while cheering in the bleachers, clapping in the theater, celebrating a scholarship or exploring the best the season has to offer at the many area attractions in Chautauqua County, reports Rachel Martin, assistant director of Campus Life.

The weekend is all about families enjoying each other’s company at their own pace, Ms. Martin noted. Some events require tickets that are sold on a first come, first serve basis.

The Harlem Quartet, which advances diversity in classical music while presenting an exciting repertoire that includes minority composers, will perform on Friday at 8 p.m., in Rosch Recital Hall. Currently serving a three-year residency at London’s Royal College of Music, the ensemble has been praised for its “panache” by The New York Times and hailed in The Cincinnati Enquirer for “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent.”

Based in New York City, the musically versatile string quartet has performed with distinguished artists that include Itzhak Perlman, Ida Kavafian and Misha Dichter and collaborated with jazz masters Chick Corea and Gary Burton on the Grammy Award winning album “Hot House.”

Since its first Carnegie Hall appearance in 2006, audiences in 47 states, as well as in the U.K., France, Panama and South Africa, have been thrilled by the quartet, whose members are teachers and orchestral collaborators.

Tickets are available at the Fredonia Ticket Office, located in the Williams Center.

The Fredonia Observatory, located on the roof of the Science Center, will offer opportunities, on a first come, first served basis, to gaze at the stars through a 17-foot PlaneWave reflecting telescope on Friday, from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.

More than 1,000 students who have been awarded scholarships – as well as the generous donors and benefactors who make these scholarships possible – will be recognized at the Scholars Breakfast, an autumn tradition at Fredonia, on Saturday at 9 a.m., in the Steele Hall Fieldhouse. This is an invitation-only event arranged by University Advancement.

Food trucks will be stationed in the Jewett Hall parking lot on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Spectrum Entertainment will bring back the Psychic Fair, one of its most popular events of the year, on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., in the Williams Center Multipurpose Room. Ten-minute readings will be given on a first come, first served basis, at $5 for students, $10 for adults. The cash-only event is recommended for persons 18 years and older. Presale tickets will not be available.

Dueling Pianos International, an interactive show filled with music and fun, will be presented on Saturday at 8 p.m., in Rosch Recital Hall. Tickets, at $8 for students, $12 for general admission, are available at the Fredonia Ticket Office, Williams Center.

Blue Devil athletic contests, which have no admission fee, include:

Men’s soccer verses SUNY Brockport, Friday, 4 p.m., University Stadium.

Women’s volleyball verses Capital University, Saturday, 11 a.m., Dods Hall gymnasium.

Men’s soccer verses SUNY Geneseo, Saturday, 1 p.m., University Stadium.

Women’s volleyball verses Ithaca College, Saturday, 4 p.m., Dods Hall gymnasium.

The exhibition “Exploring Photography,” featuring photographs from the Louisiana State University Museum of Art collection, continues at the Marion Art Gallery, Rockefeller Arts Center, on Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

FSA dining locations will be open throughout the weekend. A detailed list of operating hours, menus and prices is available at: https://fsa.fredonia.edu/

Elsewhere, the family-friendly Harvest Fest, featuring music, food, crats, yard games and raffles, will be held on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Barker Commons, downtown Fredonia. Proceeds will benefit Habitat for Humanity.

Event schedules and area maps will be available in the Campus Life Office, located in Williams Center G113, throughout the weekend.

Link to Family Weekend page: /student-life/campus-life/familyweekend

Questions regarding Family Weekend can be sent to Campus.Life@fredonia.edu or call 716-673-3143.