The annual Big Bash during Homecoming week provides a great opportunity to not only enjoy a new selection of catered food, but also allows one to enjoy great live music and community.

This year, the Big Bash provided a wide selection of food options, with a few being macaroni and cheese bites, flank steak or korean BBQ tofu street tacos, maple dijon glazed chicken wings and many more. For those with a sweet tooth or two, mini cream puffs with chocolate and caramel sauce or powdered sugar were also provided. Current and past students filled Bishop’s Bistro to try the wide variety of food options made available to them.

Additionally, those who were 21 or older were able to enjoy a selection of craft beer and wine, which was available on the first floor of Anderson. In order to ensure no funny business went on with alcohol and minors, attendees were marked with color-coded wristbands to signify whether or not they could consume alcohol during the event.

While attendees were enjoying their various meals, live music was being played in the Anderson forum. The two bands that were featured this year included Minneapolis based Sound of Simon, a Simon and Garfunkel and Paul Simon tribute band, and Farewell Tenney, a local folk-alternative band. The food and music combined to generate a great sense of community among attendees.

“It was really fun getting together with friends while enjoying good food and great music,” said Ethan Eng, a first-year student and a Photographer for the Oracle.

Whether alumni or current students at Hamline, groups of friends gathered around Anderson to enjoy each other’s company. Specific reunion locations were designated for milestone reunions ranging from 10 years to 50, so that alumni celebrating these reunions could easily come together. Alumni who weren’t celebrating a milestone reunion could find each other around Anderson and catch up on old times.

“It was nice to see all the different generations of Hamline students who are now graduates in the same space,” said Helen Maclay, a sophomore NSM on campus. “It’s just nice because students can see who’s been here and what they’ve been able to achieve once they graduated.”

“You get so used to your version of what Hamline is,” Maclay went on. “So events like this are a great way to build community because it brings you out of your daily schedule on campus, and they allow you to meet other people around Hamline and make so many connections you might not otherwise have made or expected.”

For reasons such as this, the Big Bash is a great community builder every year, bringing students closer with one another and allowing alumni to catch up and see each other again. Additionally, current students get to see how great of a community Hamline University is through seeing the long term impacts campus has had on alumni. This year, with its great selection of food and music, the Big Bash will surely be an event that students will find hard to forget.