Even if they don't have Little 500, they still like to party

Purdue University: Grand Prix
The Purdue Grand Prix website touts the event as the “Greatest Spectacle in College Racing.” Founded in 1958, the race was a way for Purdue’s engineering students to show off their skills. The race consists of 33 drivers and teams who participate in the 160-lap (50 mile) go-kart race. Each team’s kart is built from scratch and generally costs around $5,000. Funds from the race are used to provide scholarships for students.

Northwestern University: Dillo Day
According to the Dillo Day website, “Armadillo Day began in 1972 when Northwestern students from Texas held a small celebration in honor of the armadillo. More than 25 years later, Dillo Day is an all-day Saturday event on the lakefront featuring nationally and locally known bands, games and vendors.”

University of Wisconsin: Mifflin/Halloween
According to the Mifflin Street Block Party Facebook page, “The Mifflin Street Block Party is an annual celebration held on Mifflin Street in Madison, Wisc., on the first Saturday of May. It is one of two large parties held in Madison, the other being the Halloween party on State Street.”

University of Michigan: Hash Bash
According to a story in the University of Michigan’s campus newspaper, at high noon on the first Saturday in April, Michigan students celebrate Hash Bash. The event is a mixture of activists, University students, adult spectators and marijuana enthusiasts who come together to support recreational marijuana use and oppose United States drug laws.

University of Illinois: Unofficial
At the University of Illinois, the “Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day” celebration is a yearly day-long drinking event. According to an article in the Champaign-Urbana News Gazette, a Facebook page publicizing “Unofficial 2010” listed more than 17,000 confirmed guests to the event two weeks before St. Patrick’s Day. Students travel to U of I from other schools to attend the destination event.

Michigan State University: NachoFest
According to its Facebook page, NachoFest is a day of “drinking beer in the sun, eating nachos and competing in hilarious events like the Nacho Queen Pageant.” There have been six festivals, with a seventh coming this spring.

—Danielle Rindler