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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Rally kicks off football season

Little kids ran around with painted faces, outfitted in red and white, as the music of Jimmy Buffet and Van Morrison filled the warm summer air, courtesy of Bloomington's own Bahama Llama. \nFriday, Bloomington residents and students came together for the first "Paint the Town Red," an effort to unite the community, which brought hundreds of community members to Kirkwood Avenue to not only hear the pep band, but also see the pom squad, the cheerleaders and to hear coach Cam Cameron speak. B 97 was also there, handing out free T-shirts and inflatable boom sticks. The rallies are scheduled to occur Fridays before every home game.\nBloomington resident Kevin Holladay ran around with a big red curly wig and a bright red shirt. The IU fanatic was hired to increase crowd spirit. He said he is scheduled to appear at the next three rallies, but hopes the planning committees will extend his contract.\n"I think it's fantastic," he said. "It's also a way to bring awareness to the downtown businesses who were kinda' put out over the summer with the construction. I think it's always good to be a community, and to bring citizens together with the University, which doesn't happen that often either ' I think that's awesome."\nStudents were also eager to get involved in the planning of the rally. Alpha Omicron Pi sorority was asked to sponsor the rally and help with publicity. PR chair Becky Carlson, a senior, said when she was approached with the offer, she jumped at the chance to help with the Friday rallies.\n"It's really good to see a lot of people from the community and from different parts of campus coming out to support the football team and enjoy a nice night in Bloomington," she said. "Judging from the turnout, the next few weeks things will only get bigger."\nIn the middle of the rally, and at the point where the crowd was the largest, coach Cameron took the stage. "Everyone's excited, am I right?" he asked the crowd, who responded with an enthusiastic and loud "Yes!"\nHe also said his team was thrilled with the support, and were ready and willing to play their hardest. He added student ticket sales are up 20 percent from last season.\nThe football team could not attend the rally, but Cameron said, "they are aware that everyone is excited. The IU band came over and and serenaded the team today, but I think the key thing for everybody is for us to come out of that tunnel, that locker room, and for everybody to get fired up and ready to go."\nCornelius Wright, administrative assistant of Hoosiers for Higher Education, said he was pleased with the turnout for the first rally, and has confidence in the future of the event.\n"I think that we'll springboard it into a much bigger event for the here on out," he said.

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