Balloon animals, music and dance performances, story time with the Bernstein Bears.

All this entertainment and more could be found yesterday during Community Day at the Student Union.

Community Day, the culminating event for the Union Dedication Celebration, which began Friday night, attracted many Bowling Green residents and guests who enjoyed the activities offered as they viewed the Union for the first time.

“We are visitors to Bowling Green State University and we’re here because of the concert (Bowling Green Philharmonic) and also because of the opening,” said Mary Roemer, a relative of political science faculty member Mark Simon. “We really like the color scheme of the building and we think it will be a real pleasure for the students.”

The architecture and food were among the things praised by visitors.

“(The Union) is very attractive,” said Pamela Oliver, Bowling Green resident. “Also, the food is great. We’ll have to come over here more often to eat.”

Inviting the community to join in the dedication activities was no small task, but those present enjoyed the work done to make the day possible.

“I think this is great,” said Bowling Green resident Ruth Hoffman. “I’m a faithful believer in informing the public so they can see what’s happening.”

Advertising for yesterday’s event was coordinated through the Office of Marketing and Communication and the Office of Development.

“We did some target mailing to alumni in the northwest Ohio area to get them to come back in the afternoon, as well as press releases in the newspaper,” said Shannon Lore Tenney, coordinator of the Office of Development. “We also did some on-air live promotion on Channel 13.”

This weekend seemed to both inform and entertain the community without any difficulties, despite the windy and cloudy weather yesterday.

“For a program of this magnitude and complexity, it has run remarkably smoothly,” said Gale Swanka, associate director of the Union. “I think this is a testament to all the planning that people put into it.”

The success of the events this weekend, including the Friday night Comedy Festival and performance by comedian and alumnus Tim Conway on Saturday night, was seen in the numbers of people attending.

“I think the weekend was fantastic,” Lore Tenney said. “We’ve had large turnouts. Friday night the student event was sold out, last night we were sold out and today we’ve had high traffic of people from the community coming in and looking at the new building.” “Each day was directed toward a different audience and had a different spin to it,” Swanka said.

Each establishment within the Union also had its own way of attracting visitors this weekend.

The bookstore had several visiting authors Saturday night, and the characters from the children’s series the Bernstein Bears were available to meet with children yesterday.

“Today we have been very busy,” said Vicky Smith, University Bookstore employee.

Faculty and alumni hope that large crowds of students will continue to fill the Union.

“I gave a tour to a group of alumni of UAO who graduated in the neighborhood of 25 years ago, and they said they couldn’t believe how much students were using the building,” Swanka said. “In their day, students didn’t live here as much as students seem to be doing now. That was certainly very positive to hear.”