August 8, 2023
For the first time ever, Mayville State University Homecoming will meet Farmers Bowl for a combined celebration planned for Sept. 15-16. The Mayville State Alumni Association has a full schedule of activities planned for all alumni and friends.
This year’s Performing Arts Hall of Fame inductees Jeff Jacobsen and Tim Thueson will be recognized, along with Greta (Anderson) Paschke, who will be inducted posthumously, at the Performing Arts Hall of Fame awards program. The Mayville State Music Department will provide some musical selections. The program begins at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15 in the Mayville State Classroom Building Auditorium.
The 2023 Athletic and Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame inductees and Distinguished Alumni and Distinguished Service Award recipients will be recognized at the Homecoming Awards Dinner planned for 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15. Athletic Hall of Fame inductees are the 1998 softball team, the 2001 baseball team, Dana (Wiseth) Dean, and Rebecca (Hayden) Rue. Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame inductees are Jay Frydenlund and Dave Nelson. Distinguished Alumni Award recipient is Laurie (Thompson) Robinson Sammons, and Distinguished Service Award recipient is Steve Bensen.
A pre-dinner social will be held at the Edson and Margaret Larson Alumni and Leadership Center from 4 to 5:30 p.m. A social for alumni and friends will also follow the Homecoming Awards Dinner from 8:30 to 11 p.m. at the Mayville Golf Club.
An open house at the Edson and Margaret Larson Alumni and Leadership Center and the surrounding gardens will kick off the day’s activities on Saturday, Sept. 16. The open house is set to begin at 8:30 a.m.
The traditional Ceremony of Remembrance at the Military Honor Garden on the grounds of the Larson Center will follow at 9:30 a.m.
Beginning at 10 a.m., Athletic Hall of Fame teams marking anniversaries in five-year increments since they played at Mayville State are invited to join in tailgating at “The Grove” northwest of Jerome Berg Field. Teams of honor this year are the 1958, 1963, 1988, 1993, and 1998 baseball teams and the 1997-98 men’s basketball team.
A parade will start at the corner of Main Street and Center Avenue, beginning at 11 a.m. It will run down main Street and end at Jerome Berg Field on the Mayville State campus. Those interested in entering a unit in the parade should contact Stacy Buchl at stacy.buchl@mayvillestate.edu or 701-788-4864.
Mayville State’s athletic teams will be making the preparations and serving the infamous Farmers Bowl Corn on the Cob and Hot Dog Feed outside of Jerome Berg Field starting at noon. Pre-game festivities will also include live music by “Kenny and the Classics” and inflatable games and face painting for the kids.
The Comets will host Waldorf University in the Farmers Bowl/Homecoming game. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. at Jerome Berg Field.
The grand finale for the weekend will be the Farmers Bowl Auction. Socializing and silent auction bidding will begin at 5 p.m. at the MSU Campus Center Luckasen Room. The live auction will begin at 7 p.m.
The North Dakota Legislature has provided funding to renovate Mayville State’s historic Old Main. Preliminary work is underway, with construction set to begin next summer. In light of the interior transformation that will take place, alumni and friends are invited to take self-guided tours through the building on Friday, Sept. 15 from 1 to 2 p.m. and on Saturday, Sept. 16 from 9 to 10 a.m.
The full Mayville State Homecoming/Farmers Bowl schedule with all the details is at www.mayvillestate.edu/reunion. Admission tickets for the Homecoming Awards Dinner and Farmers Bowl Auction are available for sale at this site, as well as at the offices of the MSU Foundation. Contact the MSU Foundation at alumni.mail@mayvillestate.edu or 701-788-4750 with questions.