As Family Weekend approached, Facilities, Planning and Management has ramped up preparations for the upcoming campus crowd. Dave Crockett, associate director of Facilities, Planning and Management, said preparations for Family Weekend began with Facilities, Planning and Management officials meeting with event organizers to determine the needs of organizers. Many different departments and individuals must coordinate to make sure preparations go smoothly and efficiently, he said. “It involves a lot of different people all across the campus to set up for these things,” Crockett said. “For a lot of these events that happen every year, we have a pretty good routine down.” Grounds workers have already been working to prepare for Family Weekend, making sure the visual appeal of campus is high, Crockett said. “As with all major events, the grounds shop does all kinds of mowing the grass, trimming trees and hedges, and landscaping touchups,” he said. Landscaping touchups also involve reseeding and tilling the ground where patches of grass have died because of the summer drought or where construction has damaged the grass. Grounds workers also work overtime for the weekend to keep the campus free of trash, Crocket said. The office is also responsible for a considerable amount of events setup, he said. Facilities, Planning and Management workers must set up chairs and tables and erect tents before the events. Carpenters are also hired to erect stages and scaffolding. Electricians are also hired to accommodate the increased electric needs of Family Weekend. “During most of these events, there is dedicated electrician support because so many things can go wrong electrically, should there be a loss of power or a breaker blows or some issue with a piece of equipment,” Crockett said. For the REO Speedwagon Concert at 8 p.m. Saturday in Lantz Arena, 400 amps of electrical service will be required to meet the demands of the band and their equipment. A normal household requires 100 to 200 amps, Crockett said. “That’s quite a bit of power that’s required for all the lighting and equipment and amplifiers for the concert,” he said. The workers are also responsible for the environment control of Lantz Arena during Family Weekend. Crockett said heating and air conditioning must be adjusted for the large crowd not normal to the arena. “Normally, in the evening when no one is in the arena, we would shut the heating and air conditioning down because it takes an incredible amount of energy at a very high cost to hear or cool a huge space like that,” he said. However, with the increased heat produced by the number of attendance, workers must adjust the air conditioning to make sure the concertgoers and performers are comfortable. Crockett said all the planning and preparations it takes to have the campus ready and running smoothly for Family Weekend takes a great effort, but Facilities, Planning and Management is always ready for the job. “We are kind of in an eternal mode of preparation,” he said. “To some extent, when it comes to trying to make the campus look really nice, every day is a preparation for an event of some kind.”

Tim Deters can be reached at 581-2812 or tadeters@eiu.edu.