Families waiting in line at Be Out day to get some free Irie Ice.
Photo Courtesy of the FAMU_1887 Instagram page.
Be Out Day is FAMU’s way of saying thank-you to the community and the students. Saturday’s event consisted of free food, live performances, and a kids’ zone.
“I liked that it was for the community and not just FAMU students, but I think it was too long when people really just wanted to see K. Michelle and ended up waiting forever,” Alex Doty, a sophomore business administration major, said.
In order to get a free meal at Be Out Day, you had to get a ticket from the meal ticket tent, located at the front entrance. The caterers included Leola’s Crab Shack, Heavenly Catering, OH Lemonade, Inc!, Sneaux Ball Catering Company, Metz and many more. Leola’s Crab Shack served fried fish and fried shrimp with fries. Heavenly Catering gave you a taste of everything taking your taste buds above the clouds. It served cornbread baked on top of collard greens, white rice, buffalo shrimp, jambalaya, hot dogs and green beans. To top it off for dessert it had funnel cake fries.
If you needed to get your thirst quenched, then you could’ve headed over to OH Lemonade, Inc! where they were giving out free samples of their lemonade.
The vendors stopped serving food around 2:30 and encouraged students and families to go attend the spring Orange & Green Game and cheer the Rattlers on in their annual scrimmage game.
Parents were able to drop their children off in the kids’ zone where they were supervised at all times by volunteers and FAMU staff. In the kids’ zone there was no shortage of games and bounce houses. There was also a bounce house for the adults, if they wanted to have fun bouncing around.
Joint Ops staff member Johnika Moss said she was glad to see Be Out Day return after more than seven years.
“I think it went really well; everything fell the way the chair (Alexia Bell) wanted it to go. My favorite part was the kids’ zone,” she said. “It gave the kids something to do while their parents were having fun.”
The activities did not stop after the spring game. The entertainment kept rolling.
FAMU’s official DJ Loosekid was keeping everyone having a good time. There were performances from the Venom Pom Dancers, FAMU cheerleaders, Code Red Step Team, Omega Lamplighters, a singer named Caimara, and Addiction.
The final hour leading up to K. Michelle was the Greek hour. So, the fraternities showed up and gave a vintage step performance. Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Beta Sigma, Omega Psi Phi, and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternities participated.
At 9:30 p.m., K. Michelle came out and the crowd went wild. She performed for about 45 minutes in total.
“Be Out Day is something that I would like to see happen again. I would have liked to see this event when I came into town for my Spring Preview,” Quiana Haynes, a junior business administration major, said.