Emory’s Inauguration Celebration will not end with the scheduled 4:30 p.m. conclusion of the Quadrangle ceremony, April 2. Beginning at 5 p.m. on McDonough Field, the Campus Jubilee will feature free food and soft drinks, carnival games and live music headlined by rock trio Better Than Ezra.

Planning for the jubilee has been spearheaded by the Office of Student Activities. An outside firm, Corporate Sports and Meetings, will provide all the activities and staff the event, which will feature games of skill like a football toss and milk-bottle strike; refreshments like snow cones and ice cream; and hot food including chicken, hamburgers and veggie burgers, and hot dogs.

In addition to the free food and drinks, Inauguration-themed novelties and collectables will be available. Items such as cups and Koozies will be handed out while supplies last.

“This is the culmination of all the Inauguration activities,” said Tricia Stultz, assistant university secretary and a member of the jubilee planning committee. “It should be a celebration for Emory. Emory people should be able to attend it and not have to run it.”

Employees of Facilities Management will be involved in setting things up, however. Roads and grounds employees will be working McDonough and the Quad, said planning committee member Mandy Lawson of waste management, while staging employees will set up the Woodruff P.E. Center, which will host the jubilee in case of rain.

Holder Construction, which has been renovating the P.E. Center, will stop work on Thursday afternoon to accommodate all the activity in the area.

New Orleans-based Better Than Ezra will take the stage around 6:30 p.m. Not unfamiliar to Atlanta audiences, the band has headlined sold-out shows at local venues such as The Roxy and played the popular Music Midtown festival. Opening the show will be New York singer/songwriter Ari Hest.

“This has been pretty challenging,” said Jamie Smith, assistant director of student activities, adding that work on the program began in December. “Normally we might just put on a concert, but here, with the carnival, we have two programs going on at the same time.”

Putting together an event for such a diverse audience—students, faculty, staff, alumni, administrators—was complex, according to Director of Student Activities Karen Salisbury, so planners looked for a lot of feedback. “We asked for a lot of opinions from students,” she said. “And we listened. I think this is a program that can appeal to people of all ages.”

Scheduled to run from 5–8 p.m., the jubilee is free and open to the public.