Since April 1996, mothers of students at the University of Idaho have made the pilgrimage from across the country to Moscow for an annual tradition known as Moms Weekend.
Jesse Hart | Argonaut
Lauren Hayes, Student Alumni Program Coordinator and SArb adviser, prepares for mom’s weekend April 19-21.
Lauren Hamilton, student alumni program coordinator who supervises Moms Weekend, said the weekend is a great opportunity for students to show their parents the college life and the UI campus.
“We are anticipating at least 200 people at our events, but I know that there will be more around,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said she thinks Moscow could see upwards of 500 people in town celebrating Moms Weekend.
Nicole Stein and Molly Loucks were the UI student committee chairs who worked with the alumni office to coordinate events for Moms Weekend this year.
Stein, a junior, said her mom and dad are coming up for the weekend for their third Moms weekend. She said she is looking forward to the Iron Mom event that will take place Friday. Iron Mom is 3:30 p.m. Friday outside of the VandalStore, and it will feature minute to win it challenges performed by moms and their kids. The winners of Iron Mom will receive prizes.
“I encourage the students to attend as many events as they can so that the moms can really see what the university provides for them and the kind of people that the students interact with,” Stein said.
After the Iron Mom event at 6 p.m. students and moms can go to the Kibbie Dome and check out the Silver and Gold scrimmage, which will preview the 2013 Vandal football team. At the scrimmage UI will unveil the 2013 Vandal game day shirt.
To kick off Saturday, students can accompany their moms to a 9:30 a.m. brunch in the Student Union Building ballroom.
A lot of events have been planned around campus for the weekend and some local businesses will give students who bring their moms into their stores discounts, Hamilton said. She said students should take advantage of the opportunities around Moscow this weekend because they only come once a year.
One local business that will have deals this weekend is Camas Prairie Winery, which will feature their signature Vandal Crest wines which have iconic images of UI on the bottles. From 12-6 p.m. on Saturday the winery will have wine tastings.
Amy Jacobsen and Kylee Neuman are both graduating from UI this year and both of their moms have made it up to every Moms Weekend since they were freshmen.
Neuman said she is heartbroken this is the last Moms Weekend because she always has such a good time during the tradition.
“I am so lucky to have a mama that will drive six hours from Boise to come see me,” Neuman said.
Neuman said she will spend the weekend relaxing with her mom and going to the Vandal Lacrosse game Saturday.
Jacobsen said she has a lot of activities planned for her and her mom this weekend. Jacobsen’s activities include the Kappa Kappa Gamma Fun Run and the Phi Delta Theta’s Turtle Derby on campus for her final Mom’s weekend.
“I’m really excited for her to come down because I always have too much fun with her and all my friend’s Moms the whole weekend,” Jacobsen said.
John Fish can be reached at [email protected]