Charleston will buzz with excitement this weekend as Homecoming 2003: “The Good, The Bad, The 80s” ushers in its last few days of spirited fun.

“It’s just going to be crazy,” said Amanda Eble, a sophomore undecided major. “Hopefully no one gets arrested or in any fights.”

Eble and her roommate Colleen Clarke, a sophomore journalism major, said they plan to house a whopping 30 to 40 friends in their six-person household this weekend.

Though having guests in town for the festivities is not unusual, Eble and Clarke will take their posse to the men’s rugby game Saturday instead of the traditional football game.

“We’re from the South Side (of Chicago) and a lot of people we know play on the South Side team” that will face Eastern, said Clarke.

Guessing that this year’s homecoming will likely be more fun than the last, Eble and Clarke said they plan to party all night at their friends’ after-game bash.

Chris Micks, a senior political science major, said a partying atmosphere seems to epitomize the typical Eastern homecoming.

When asked if he will watch the parade that begins at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Micks said it all depends on how he is feeling after Friday night.

“I’ll try to, if I can wake up,” Micks said. “It gets pretty rowdy (because) it’s just a big weekend of partying. Probably the best weekend.”

Though Micks may not make it to the parade, Amanda Bastert, a senior communication disorders sciences major, will watch the floats and marching bands with her Alpha Gamma Delta sorority sisters while at a Seventh Street house party.

“It’s a tradition,” Bastert said of watching the parade from the sorority’s off-campus house.

For Neil Miguez, a sophomore physical education major, participating in tailgating has become his own Eastern homecoming tradition.

Miguez said he is most looking forward to tailgating with his buddies before the 1:30 p.m. football game against Ohio Valley Conference foe Tennessee-Martin.

In fact, Miguez said he might possibly paint his face for the anticipated pre-party at O’Brien Stadium.

“It’s usually the best day to tailgate all year,” Miguez said. “I’m very excited because last year was so much fun.”

Whitney Tarbutton, a sophomore history major, said homecoming is the perfect opportunity for Eastern students to show school spirit by packing the stands at the football game.

“We’re definitely going to the game,” Tarbutton said referring to her roommates and some other Eastern friends. “I haven’t been to a football game this year, but it should be a lot of fun.”

Annual alumni invasion

Easern alumnus Scott Burrus is feeling festive for homecoming all the way in Moline, a town on the Mississippi River about 235 miles northwest of Charleston.

Burrus is eager to return to Charleston for a weekend he anticipates will be “fun, laid-back and just a great time that makes you miss being an actual student here.”

“Something memorable happens every homecoming,” said the 2001 graduate who currently works as a freelance graphic designer. “I haven’t missed a year yet.”

In addition to catching up with old college friends and enjoying the simple pleasures of barbecue and beer, Burrus said he hopes to create some crazy memories during the weekend.

But he has already experienced some pretty wacky homecoming moments.

For example, Burrus vividly recalled the 2000 homecoming football game at which he said fans wildly cheered on two people who were making out on the grass to the right of the football field.

“I was one of the guys running around them,” he said.

Though Burrus is attending homecoming for the camraderie, family is the motivating force behind Eastern graduate Karl Barnes’ return.

The 1978 graduate and his wife Mary are traveling from the Rockford suburb of Cherry Valley to spend homecoming with their daughter Kellie, a sophomore business education major.

“I’m super excited” for them to come down, said Kellie.

“We’ve been coming back every year since 1999,” Mr. Barnes said referring to the year his oldest daughter Katie began school at Eastern.

This weekend Barnes is bringing along his sister, Gail Bradley, an Eastern alumna who graduated about four years after him.

“She’s coming back for the first time since she graduated,” Barnes said. “She’s really looking forward to coming back.”

As for Barnes, he is looking forward to celebrating with his daughter, wife and sister while reliving fond memories from past homecomings.

One such memory includes meeting college friends at the bar now called Mike and Stan’s to drink Bloody Marys in preparation for tailgating and the afternoon football game.

“We try to do that when we come back,” Barnes said.

As in previous years, Barnes said he plans to “set up a pretty big tailgating spot” and wants to have as much fun as his daughter and her friends.

“Partying, you know, is the big thing” during homecoming, Barnes said.

Now and then

Dan Thornburgh, a former Eastern professor and chair of the journalism department who retired in 1993, has been a Charleston resident for 44 years.

Since beginning his professional relationship with the university in 1959, Thornburgh has observed many Eastern Homecomings.

And there have been some big changes throughout the years.

“The biggest change is that we don’t have quite as much going on during homecoming as we used to,” Thornburgh said.

During the ’60s, exteriors of the residence halls and greek houses on 6th and 7th streets were elaborately decorated according to each year’s homecoming theme, he said.

“I found it interesting and fun to drive around and see what they put up,” Thornburgh said.

Nancy Beabout, a Charleston resident for 61 years and the owner of Nancy’s Lettering Shop, agreed with Thornburgh that house decorations were once a homecoming highlight.

“There would be lines of people driving around on Friday nights to see the decorations” while they were being judged, Beabout said.

The house decorations disappeared from Homecoming week because of the substantial amount of money the event demanded, Thornburgh said.

Though the Saturday morning parade is still a part of Eastern’s homecoming, Thornburgh said it used to be more of a spectacular community event.

“It used to be a big social event for the whole community,” he said.

“A number of times in the ’50s and ’60s you’d be invited to parties on people’s lawns on 6th and 7th Streets as the parade went up and down,” Thornburgh said. “It got the townspeople into the Homecoming spirit.”

Beabout said the parade is her favorite part of homecoming and has noticed the crowds are not as big and lively now as in previous years.

“I’ve always gone to the parades,” she said. “I’ve missed a few over the years, but not too many.”

In fact, Beabout recalls that when she was a child homecoming floats were often positioned on semi-truck platforms.

This practice was stopped because the floats would often get caught in trees that lined the parade route,” she said.

Despite some visible changes to Eastern’s homecoming through the decades, many people think the spirit surrounding the week has remained virtually untouched.

“It’s still a great feeling,” Barnes said. “A lot of you won’t understand until 20 or 30 years from now.”

Cari Nadelhoffer, a junior elementary education major, said homecoming embodies the fall season and always has “that distinct spirit.”

Colleen Kempton, a senior special education major, agreed with Nadelhoffer.

“It doesn’t matter what year it is,” she said. “The spirit’s still the same.”

Anticipating yet another Eastern homecoming, Barnes reveals why having fun this weekend will prove to be effortless.

“Homecoming really hasn’t changed and that’s what is so great about it,” he said.