BU Welcome Week Includes Concert, Balloon Championship
The Heart of Texas National Balloon Championship and a Friday night open air concert by Grammy and Dove Award-winning recording artist Michael W. Smith will highlight Welcome Week festivities on the Baylor University campus.
Tickets are available now for Smith's concert, which will take place Friday, Aug. 17, at the Baylor intramural fields. Sign of Jonah, a Christian band from Waco, will take the stage at 6 p.m., followed at 7:30 p.m. by Dallas-based Forty Days, then Smith at 9:15 p.m. Other special events include a hot air balloon "glow" at 8:30 p.m. and a fireworks display following Smith's concert. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students with a valid school ID and $15 at the door. Children 6 and under accompanied by a paying adult will be admitted free. For tickets, call the Baylor ticket office at (254) 710-3210.
Bagby Avenue will be closed to traffic Friday evening, but parking will be available in the Ferrell Center lots on University Parks Drive. Baylor DPS officers will be managing traffic and pedestrian flow. Because the perimeter of the intramural fields will be fenced off, a main entrance gate and walk-up ticket office will be set up by the McLane Student Life Center parking lot. Concert-goers may bring lawn chairs, but no coolers are permitted. Food and cold drinks will be available for purchase.
The hot air balloon competition will take place from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. each day through Sunday at the Baylor intramural fields and is open to the public. Pilots will meet each morning at 6 a.m. at the Ferrell Center with flights immediately following. The competition will conclude with an awards ceremony at 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 19, at the intramural fields. For information about the balloon competition, call Gary Findley at Curves International in Waco at 399-9285.