Good times and great memories at Homecoming 2016

Blue and green and Lakers pride were all on full display this past weekend, as Nipissing celebrated Homecoming Weekend 2016.

A weekend of sold-out events created a fantastic and fun filled turnout for a solid few days and nights of fun and celebration.

“Homecoming 2016 was a great success. We sold about 700 passes, and many more people showed up for the tailgate party and hockey game, so numbers were impressive,” said Sean Feretyki, president of the Alumni Advisory Board.  “More importantly, students and alumni were celebrating together all over the city, making connections and building even greater engagement with Nipissing. I’ve seen first-hand how Homecoming has grown in recent years, and it’s rewarding to see it get bigger and better every year.  People are already looking forward to next year.”

Events tipped off on Friday afternoon in the Robert J. Surtees Student Athletics Centre, with the Lakers women’s basketball team played great against Algoma but suffered a cold shooting hand and were handed a loss.  The men’s basketball team took on Laurier later than night in front of a packed gym, en route to an unfortunate loss.

After a night of beer and wine tasting and a country pub, the festivities got going again on Saturday morning with breakfast at Burger World, followed by a full day of varsity action featuring Lakers volleyball, soccer, basketball and hockey teams.

The tailgate party at Memorial Gardens saw busloads of students getting dropped off to enjoy the music of Featurette, before heading into Memorial Gardens to watch the Lakers men’s team battle to arch-rival Laurentian Voyageurs.  It was a hard fought 4-2 victory played in front of some 2,000 excited fans.

Planning is already starting for Homecoming 2017, during NU's 25th Anniversary celebrations.  Stay tuned for more details soon.

The fun extended to social media as well. Nipissing introduced three new Homecoming themed Snapchat filters.  They were used almost 500 separate times, and viewed almost 20,000 different times. ?