Festivities occur all across campus in celebration of agricultural and athletics

The 51st Potato Bowl occurred this week, and Grand Forks, North Dakota pulled out all the stops in its annual celebration of the agricultural powerhouse that is the Red River Valley. The Potato Bowl started all the way back in 1956 when the the two largest potato growing regions of the country met in a football game on a cold September day. Although the University of North Dakota no longer plays against Idaho, the name stuck, and the tradition has carried on to this day.

This year, there were three major events associated with the Potato Bowl, the Hugo’s Golf Tournament, the French Fry Feed, the Kem Shrine Parade and the annual football game.

On Wednesday, the Potato Bowl kicked off with the annual golf tournament. This year, a record number of teams attended the tournament hoping to dethrone last years team and win the prestigious trophy.

The French Fry Feed continued the festivities on Thursday, with more than 10,000 people in attendance, and is billed as the world’s largest French Feed, with upwards of two tons being consumed by hungry residents of Grand Forks.  Additionally, there was a free concert, a wide variety of stands and a whole slew of inflatabled.

After the French Fry Feed, there was a day off from scheduled events, but festivitives resumed on Saturday with the Kem Shrine Parade. The parade this year returned to Demeers Avenue and traveled all the way to East Grand Forks, as opposed to last year’s popular University Avenue route. As with every year the parade served as a whose who among Grand Fork’s business and organizations, ranging from political campaigns to President Kennedy and his wife Debby making an appearance. Among the more noteworthy floats, there was one with a helicopter on the back and a float for next years music festival Kick’N Up Kountry. Furthermore, multiple marching bands performed for the bowl including both the UND Pride of the North and local high-school bands.

After the  parade there was of course the annual football game between the University of North Dakota and University of South Dakota, in which UND won a double-overtime game 44-47.

For more coverage on the French Fry Feed, or the Football game, please refer to pages seven and ten respectively.

David Owen is the news editor for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]