Seasons at KU

It's just the beginning

Hawk Week eases the transition to everything new on the Hill — free ice cream, music and popcorn are especially helpful — all leading up to the all-important first day of the fall semester. The weather sizzles in mid-August, but stick around for a few weeks and things really get cool.

Speech, speech

Historians, biologists, novelists, economists, physicists, poets or politicians: hear what the great ones have to say in person, often for free, in lectures and speeches presented by, among others, the Hall Center for the Humanities, the Dole Institute of Politics, the School of Business, the Spencer Museum of Art or the Department of English.

Homing instincts

KU updates the classic homecoming with a spirited variety of fund-raisers and pure fun, structures built of donated cans of food to "Jayhawk Idol" sing-offs. The events are capped by a rousing parade across campus in the morning, followed by the football game against a traditional rival.

Stringing along

Just as classes get under way, the Kansas State Fiddling & Picking Championship plays out in South Park. Musicians young and old and their fiddles, guitars, banjos, mandolins, dobros and dulcimers jam for fun and play-off for prizes: it's part picnic, part party, all acoustic.

Join the circle

In mid-September internationally noted artists in mediums from traditional pottery to bold acrylics, jewelry to woodcarvings, participate in the Haskell Indian Art Market, a festival of arts, crafts, foods, music and dancing at Haskell Indian Nations University.

Spring  |  Summer  |  Fall  |  Winter