IU Day at the State Fair draws hundreds

INDIANAPOLIS – The sky was blue Thursday, but the Indiana State Fair shined cream and crimson.

From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, hundreds of fair goers decked out in IU gear, walked up and down State Fair Boulevard to attend the fair’s annual IU Day.

With more than 50 informational booths about the different departments at the eight different IU campuses, attendees got the chance to see what IU is really all about.

Yvonne Gray, assistant director at the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Music Academy, entertained children at her booth Thursday. With several instruments out on a table, kids got a chance to learn how to make the perfect note on a saxophone or even strum the perfect chord on a violin.

“This is what we call our instrument petting zoo,” she said laughing.

Gray said the most popular instrument among the children was the violin. She said the booth is very popular and kids often come back three to four times during the day to play.

As the day went on, more Hoosier fans piled onto the street to see the IU Physics Department freeze a balloon or to get information from the Jacobs School of Music about the school’s upcoming performances.

At about 1:30 p.m. staff from IUPUI, including men’s soccer coach Steve Franklin, took stage for a pep rally celebrating athletics and school spirit. IU President Michael McRobbie took the stage to discuss campus life at IUPUI before the IUPUI Urban Drum Ensemble took over to perform.

But State Fair Boulevard got most crowded at about 3 p.m., when IU men’s basketball coach Tom Crean stopped by the IU Athletics booth to sign autographs for the Hoosier nation. Crean stopped signing his own picture at about 3:45 p.m., enough time to get to IU’s pep rally.
Beginning off with the IU fight song, members of the Marching Hundred and the IU Cheerleading squad pumped up the crowd before McRobbie took the stage.

Clad in an IU hat and t-shirt, he spoke about how research done at IU within the numerous departments has an impact on every day life in Indiana.

“I think those of you who have seen the exhibit here will realize how extraordinary IU is,” he said.

Indiana First Lady Cheri Daniels took the stage after McRobbie, promoting what IU has to offer for each and every student. She told the audience how amazed she was at what her daughter took away from the Kelley School of Business.

“I think we should all be very proud of all the great studies possible through Indiana University,” she said. “We’ve got it all in Indiana.”

Crean ended the Pep Rally with a speech about his first four months as the Hoosier coach. Crean said for as long as he could remember, he had been a fan of Indiana basketball.

“You don’t have any idea what it’s like until you’re a part of it,” he said.

Crean encouraged the Hoosier Nation to go out and support the IU football team in the fall. Crean said Hoosier fans have to be strong going into the fall semester. Noticing the amount of Hoosier fans in the audience, Crean said he needs that same support during basketball season.

Crean boasted IU athletics and the student athletes GPA, stating that all of the women athletes GPAs are at a 3.0, though the men’s fall short behind with a 2.8.

“(IU is) not a school for you to come in and be average in,” he said to a standing ovation. “If you come to Indiana, you better be up for a fight, for a challenge. It isn’t an accident that (IU Day) is the highlight of fair week.”