Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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cause students to seek by Candy Leonard Aggieville might be Manhattan ' s claim to fame, but the change in the drinking age caused almost half of K-State ' s students to look for alternatives to partying in Aggieville. Bill Arck, director of Alcohol and Other Drug Education Services, realized this student need. Since 1985 he has been the coordinator of Kickoff, a welcome-back party for students, just before classes began in August. Kickoff ' 86 was held at the KSU Stadium. Special guests included head football coach Stan Parrish, the KSU cheerleaders, Willie the Wildcat and the K-State Marching Band. The excitement grew as everyone joined in games conducted by the Playfair director, whose stage name was Biaja. Playfair is a company from New York City, Arck said. Biaja began a series of games that motivated students to open up and in playful activities. This allowed them to reduce stress and meet people they would not normally have the chance to meet. Residence halls also had their own o give students an alternative to Aggieville. Functions with brother and sister floors, dances and spring formals were planned by individual halls. The first big event of the year was the canoe race in September. Residence hall teams competed in the race from Manhattan to St. Mary ' s on the Kaw River. The race is usually a rivalry event between K-State and the University of Kansas, but KU did compete because of scheduling conflicts with football games, Bocklage said. Homecoming and Spring Fling weeks also drew participation from the greek houses and residence halls. UPC (Union Programming Council) provides entertainment and other extra- and co-curricular activities totaling over 700 each year, said Mike Penner, graduate assistant and program adviser for UPC. The UPC programs offered students a n alternative to Aggieville and the chance for committee involvement. Every element of the programming was done by students, assisted by a program director and two other full-time program advisers. Nine different committees work to bring a wide range of social, cultural and recreational programs to the K-State campus, Penner said. Special events, such as the All-Campus Dance Sept. 12 in the Union Catskeller, were something new for UPC. We know students like to dance and we want to schedule several of these because some students can ' t go to Aggieville to dance, Penner said. The Eclectic Entertainment Committee brought in a popular Aggieville comedian, David Naster, Nov. 21. The films shown in the Union theaters, about 40 each year, were picked by UPC film committees. The reduced price was an The Union recreation center has live snooker and 11 pool tables available by an hourly rate. (Photo by Jeff Weatherly) added attraction for students to see popular releases, Penner said. The Union recreation area provided spare time fun with billiard tables, video games, table tennis, table soccer and 16 bowling lanes. We have bowling specials on Friday nights, and bowling leagues that run Sunday through Thursday, said Jeff Alton, recreation area employee. For about $40 each semester, students could bowl three games once a week in a round robin tournament, Alton said. Plaques were given to the teams with the most wins. We also offer about the cheapest pool in town, Alton said. Pool leagues attracted about 30 people each semester. The busiest times were the winter months when students couldn ' t get out, Alton said. Because of the many activities it has to offer, the Union was ranked as the fifth best student union by the New York Times. During the warmer months, Manhattan ' s miniature golf course kept busy. Our busiest time is from May through August, said Veryle Snyder, owner of Manhattan ' s Putt-Putt course. Snyder has managed the miniature golf course in Manhattan for 23 years. on the weather, the season for Putt-Putt begins the first of April and lasts through October, Snyder said. Many special of fers were available, all-you-can-play days each Monday, discount group rates and book tickets, which were sold the first weekend of the month. The manager ' s ticket is most popular with couples, Snyder said. They buy five games for $8 and play both sides of the course. Snyder ' s course was open afternoons and evenings seven days a week to accommodate students, he said. Even though some K-Staters might have been part of the crowd in Aggieville bars, during spare time, they also took advantage of many other recreational alternatives to help them relax. 30 Aggieville Alternatives

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by Marta Montgomery It was a Monday night in Manhattan — the beginning of a new week. Everyone knew they had things to do projects to work on, tests to study for, and reading to catch up on. In spite of this, students looked for other ways to spend their Monday nights. One popular diversion for students as well as residents of Manhattan was Comedy Invasion, performed at a private club in Aggieville. Comedy Invasion, a weekly event, began in October 1985. Comedy night is every Monday night, no matter what. We even did the show on Labor Day, said Rich Kreftewith, manager of the establishment. He said a good crowd turned up every week. Comedy Invasion was a hit from the very start. People immediately loved it, he said. There were some comedy nights when the club was at capacity with over 400 people. Doug Ferari of San Francisco attracted a crowd of approximately 400 people on the night of the first year anniversary of comedy night. The average Comedy Invasion crowd was between 250 and 275 paying customers, Kreftewith said. Kreftewith employed an agent who booked the acts for the club. He counted on the agent to deliver quality comedians, and he said he had been pleased. Most of the acts were not local with many from New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Houston. Manhattan falls into a spot on what is the 1-70 Tour. Comedians running through this tour perform in the local club before continuing on to Comedy Invasions in Lawrence, Columbia, Mo. and St. Joseph, Mo. Some repeat comedians had a loyal following in Manhattan and their name drew a larger crowd, Kreftewith said. Kreftewith said the club tried to stay on a three-month rotation of performers. With this schedule, people who enjoyed seeing favorites like Rich Jenny of New York, and Doug Ferari of San Francisco, had the to see them more than once, but they also could see new acts between the repeats. People who attended comedy night had various reasons for being there. Charlie Gray, a former K-State student and current resident of Manhattan, said he went there practically every week. I like it because it really is funny, and I like to see the people, he said. Sharla Soukup, sophomore in special education, and Sarah Kovs, sophomore in elementary education, had never been to the Comedy Invasion before. Soukup said the reason they finally tried it was especially to see this guy (Doug Ferari). She said they had seen him on Late Night with David Letterman and they knew he was really funny. To some students, Monday night was a time to relax in order to prepare for the coming week. I have a busy week ahead of me and Comedy Invasion is a good way to relieve some of the tension before the hectic part of the week begins, said Sally Bender, senior in Spanish. Kreftewith said he was really glad they took a chance on comedy night. At first it seemed like a longshot, but he said it was paying off because people like comedy night as an innovative idea. He saw Comedy Invasion as a huge success, and said that as far as he could see, it would continue to get bigger. J.J. Ramirez puts on his own version of the Dating Game. Jim Alvey, Pete Vieyra and Charles Speas answer questions from Ann Woodward. (Photo by John LaBarge) Comedy Night 29

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an alternative to Aggieville, John Welch and Helen Bundy take time to play a few games of foosball in the Union recreation center. (Photo by Jeff Weatherly) Students and faculty can take a break from the Aggieville crowds by bowling on one of the 16 lanes located in the basement of the K-State Union. (Photo by Jeff Weatherly) Alternatives 3