University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers in the Grand Old Day Parade
6/7/2010 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
University of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletics helped the city of St. Paul, Minn., kick off summer by participating in the 37th annual Grand Old Day parade, June 6th along Grand Avenue. The Golden Gophers have been represented in the Grand Old Day ever since the inception of the event in 1973. This year, seven Gopher teams were in the parade.
Gopher student athletes included football's Matt Carufel, Kim Royston and Shady Salamon, men's hockey's Seth Helgeson, women's hockey's Anne Schleper, volleyball's Lauren Gibbemeyer and Christine Tan, softball's Dannie Skrove, swimming's Ray Betuzzi and track's Shanna Campbell, Andrea Rediger and Nicole Tzanakis. They all arrived at the Bierman Field Athletic Building at 8 a.m., and were set to walk in the parade, starting at 10 a.m. The Gopher athletes, Goldy Gopher and the marketing department walked along Grand Ave and passed out giveaways for the upcoming academic and athletic season. The parade started at Fairview Avenue and ended at Dale Street, with kids, parents, and hundreds of spectators lining the street.
Said to be the largest one-day festival in the Midwest, Grand Old Day is also considered one of the biggest block parties. Grand Avenue consists of 30 blocks running from downtown St. Paul to St. Thomas University on Cretin Avenue. In addition to featuring more than 20 local bands on seven stages and free activities, the event supports nine community nonprofit organizations through fundraising, awareness and volunteer recruitment. (From Grand Old Day website: http://www.grandave.com/grandoldday/).
The University of Minnesota athletics department has done over 170 outreach events since September 2009 and has accumulated over 7,000 hours of service within the Twin Cities community. All 25 Gopher teams and over 575 of its 700 student athletes at the U of M have volunteered through M.A.G.I.C. (Maroon and Gold Impacting the Community) this year alone.
