Next week, hundreds of Queen’s alumni will be coming back to the town they once called home.

Homecoming 2014, slated for Oct. 17-19, welcomes back former students with events and celebrations to commemorate their time at Queen’s.  

The second Homecoming since the event was reinstated in 2013, this year’s festivities will be complete with opportunities for alumni to connect with one another, faculty, students and with the city of Kingston.

“We’ve engaged extensively with our stakeholders, including Queen’s staff, students, Kingston residents and of course, alumni to create a Homecoming that stands as the sort of celebration of community that all of Queen’s stands for,” says Sarah Indewey, Manager of Volunteer Relations and Reunions. “There’s plenty of programming that everyone will be able to enjoy together and we couldn’t be more excited to have everyone back.”

Much of the weekend’s programming is created and hosted by alumni groups themselves, with 89 different reunions currently scheduled. Groups like the Alma Mater Society, the Queen’s Debating Union and even the 1964 Yates Cup-winning Football Team all have events thanks in large part to alumni volunteers who worked to bring together their classmates and friends.

Classes having milestone graduation anniversary years will enjoy special programming hosted by the university. Events are planned for the classes celebrating their five-year and 25-year anniversaries, as well as those who graduated 50 years ago or longer. The fifth and 25th groups are gathering at downtown restaurants for food and socializing, while those having their 50-year anniversary or more, called the “Tricolour Guard”, will have a more formal event in Grant Hall hosted by the principal and the chancellor.

Homecoming isn’t just for alumni though, and there are many events that will be open to the entire Queen’s community. Engineers Without Borders is hosting their fifth annual pumpkin smash to raise awareness about their national and international programs. An enormous pumpkin weighing over 500 pounds will be hoisted high into the sky and dropped, smashing into pieces while the crowd watches. Later that night the School of Graduate Studies is wrapping up their Graduate Career Week with a networking event that will put alumni in touch with current graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

To get people excited for Saturday’s football against York, the Queen’s Student Alumni Association will hosting a spirit corner in front of Grant Hall. They’ll be offering face painting and selling pompoms for the game so attendees can show their school spirit. Along with celebrating sports, there will also be chance to celebrate the arts, with the new addition of an Art Crawl. Participants can tour the various hubs of Queen’s exceptional arts community, including the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Union Gallery and the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, culminating in a performance of Orbit, the Drama Department’s major fall production.

To learn more about the events planned for Homecoming weekend, visit queensu.ca/homecoming2014.