Brawl damages Cowboy Travel Plaza
A group of about 30 people caused damage to the Cowboy Travel Plaza at the intersection of Interstate 35 and State Highway 51 after a fight broke out early Friday morning, Payne County Sheriff R.B. Hauf said.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Here comes homecoming
Thrills, chills at Walkaround
Darla SlipkeEveryone and everything — from strollers and wagons, to dogs and kids, to trees and buildings — were decked out in black and orange Friday night during Walkaround at Oklahoma State.
Thousands flooded the streets, sidewalks and lawns surrounding Greek houses and residence halls starting at 6 p.m. to view giant lawn displays set up in front of sororities and fraternities. As darkness set in and the night wore on, the crowd grew larger until there was room to do little more than shuffle from one display to the next. Music pumped through the air and vendors lined the streets selling giant drumsticks, caramel apples, hot cocoa and more.
Walkaround is one of the university’s biggest and most beloved homecoming traditions. Sorority and fraternity members and dorm residents spend hundreds of hours each year designing and welding display decks and then stuffing colored tissue through wire, or pomping, to create giant interactive displays. This year’s theme was “Branded for Life.”
Displays featured images like Bullet riding into the sunset, a scrolling scoreboard where Missouri was constantly playing catch-up with points, and Pistol Pete holding a branding iron to a tiger cub. Many of them had moving features, and one had a carnival set up behind the display.
Inside the carnival, children enjoyed a variety of attractions, like a mechanical bull, inflatable slides and more.
Reed Stallsmith, 10, and his brother argued about who won an inflatable obstacle course competition called The Rat Race. Each one insisted that he had defeated the other.
“I think it was a tie,” their dad, Jay Stallsmith, said.
He and his wife attended Oklahoma State. They live in Bixby now, but they enjoy bringing their kids back to Stillwater for homecoming festivities.
Bailey Thompson and her mom, Ann, toured the displays together with a friend. Bailey is a sophomore at OSU. She was a member of a sorority last year and helped with a Walkaround display.
Thompson said it was fun to be on the other side of Walkaround this year as a visitor.
“You don’t have circles under your eyes,” her mom teased.
OSU freshman Avesta Ehsan, a pledge for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, sat in a white wicker chair outside the fraternity house just before sunset and watched people walk by.
He hadn’t slept in more than 24 hours because the fraternity spent all night pomping. Ehsan said it felt like a waste of time while they were working, but once they finished he was proud at what they had accomplished.
Stillwater residents Dale and Malinda Shipley grew up in Stillwater and remember coming to Walkaround when they were kids.
Dale Shipley said it was fun to run into old friends. Malinda Shipley said the displays and the art keep getting better.
“It just seems like it changes every year,” she said. “I love it. I want my kids to grow up enjoying it, too.”
On Friday, she and her husband walked around with one of their sons while their other kids enjoyed the festivities on their own.
Walkaround is also a family affair for Judy and Roy Lindsey of Cordell.
They attended OSU, and so did their three sons and two daughters-in-law. Judy Lindsey said they come for Walkaround almost every year.
“It’s a tradition that seems to get better every year,” she said.
Thousands flooded the streets, sidewalks and lawns surrounding Greek houses and residence halls starting at 6 p.m. to view giant lawn displays set up in front of sororities and fraternities. As darkness set in and the night wore on, the crowd grew larger until there was room to do little more than shuffle from one display to the next. Music pumped through the air and vendors lined the streets selling giant drumsticks, caramel apples, hot cocoa and more.
Walkaround is one of the university’s biggest and most beloved homecoming traditions. Sorority and fraternity members and dorm residents spend hundreds of hours each year designing and welding display decks and then stuffing colored tissue through wire, or pomping, to create giant interactive displays. This year’s theme was “Branded for Life.”
Displays featured images like Bullet riding into the sunset, a scrolling scoreboard where Missouri was constantly playing catch-up with points, and Pistol Pete holding a branding iron to a tiger cub. Many of them had moving features, and one had a carnival set up behind the display.
Inside the carnival, children enjoyed a variety of attractions, like a mechanical bull, inflatable slides and more.
Reed Stallsmith, 10, and his brother argued about who won an inflatable obstacle course competition called The Rat Race. Each one insisted that he had defeated the other.
“I think it was a tie,” their dad, Jay Stallsmith, said.
He and his wife attended Oklahoma State. They live in Bixby now, but they enjoy bringing their kids back to Stillwater for homecoming festivities.
Bailey Thompson and her mom, Ann, toured the displays together with a friend. Bailey is a sophomore at OSU. She was a member of a sorority last year and helped with a Walkaround display.
Thompson said it was fun to be on the other side of Walkaround this year as a visitor.
“You don’t have circles under your eyes,” her mom teased.
OSU freshman Avesta Ehsan, a pledge for Sigma Alpha Epsilon, sat in a white wicker chair outside the fraternity house just before sunset and watched people walk by.
He hadn’t slept in more than 24 hours because the fraternity spent all night pomping. Ehsan said it felt like a waste of time while they were working, but once they finished he was proud at what they had accomplished.
Stillwater residents Dale and Malinda Shipley grew up in Stillwater and remember coming to Walkaround when they were kids.
Dale Shipley said it was fun to run into old friends. Malinda Shipley said the displays and the art keep getting better.
“It just seems like it changes every year,” she said. “I love it. I want my kids to grow up enjoying it, too.”
On Friday, she and her husband walked around with one of their sons while their other kids enjoyed the festivities on their own.
Walkaround is also a family affair for Judy and Roy Lindsey of Cordell.
They attended OSU, and so did their three sons and two daughters-in-law. Judy Lindsey said they come for Walkaround almost every year.
“It’s a tradition that seems to get better every year,” she said.
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