Chico State is holding free activities for students as alternatives to Labor Day drinking and floating this weekend.
Wildcat Way Weekend starts Thursday and ends Monday. The University Housing and Food Service, Wildcat Recreation Center and Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center teamed up to put together activities for this event.
Activities open to all students on Saturday include: Choose to Cruise, a bike ride from campus to One Mile Bidwell Park, a Bidwell Park barbecue and Cirque de U.V., an event held last year for students at University Village on Nord Avenue.
In a campus-wide email, Associated Students president Taylor Herren advocated for students to participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge on Labor Day. The event is a fundraiser that will benefit the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association. It will be held at the WREC at 1:00 p.m. and require those who attend to jump into the gym pool and donate $5 to $10.
Trisha Seastrom, program director at CADEC, said Wildcat Way Weekend was created to be a safe and alternative event other than floating. The event was initially created during a Call to Action summit meeting last spring.
“Floating can be fun and floating can be safe but not when combined with alcohol,” said Seastrom. “Every time individuals are combining alcohol or drugs with the float they are endangering themselves.”
Since the 2013 Labor Day alcohol ban which prohibits the possession of alcohol on the river, only 3,000 people took to the river last year – a drop from 10,000 people in 2012, according to a report conducted by Butte County Sheriff deputies.
Violation of the alcohol ban can result in a fine of up to $380. For a complete list of the fines, go to CADEC’s floating tips website.
Austin Lockhart, freshman biochemistry major, said he will be going to the float this year regardless of the ban.
“The alcohol ban doesn’t affect me,” he said. “I’m just going to have fun. It’s tradition – my stepdad used to come and float kegs down the river with his friends.”
For a list of the Wildcat Way Weekend events, go to CADEC’s Labor Day page.
Jovanna Garcia can be reached at: [email protected] or Jo_garcia19 on Twitter.
