Central College’s 2024 Homecoming plans offer alumni and the greater community opportunities to join in festivities for the whole family.

Central will open the Homecoming week with guest speaker and former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo sharing her poetry followed by an interview with Central trustee, Class of 1973 alum, and former NBC Today Show and CBS reporter Harry Smith. The Writers Reading will be on Monday, September 30th at 7pm in Douwstra Auditorium. Central students, faculty, and employees will join together for their annual Service Day volunteering in the community Wednesday, October 2nd. The Visual and Performing Arts department will perform the play, “A Body of Water,” by Lee Blessing on Thursday, October 3rd through Sunday, October 6th at 6:30 p.m. 

Geisler Library will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an open house on Friday, October 4th from 2-4 pm and the return of the Pep Rally and Barbecue Street Party with free dinner runs from 6-8 pm on the 4th. The annual Lemming Race will begin the pep rally at 6 pm, followed by the Central cheerleaders, dance team, Dutch Boom, and a concert by the band Fresh Cookie Tuesday on Broadway Street.

The Dutch Dash, Central’s 1.853-mile walk/run through campus begins at 9 am on Saturday, October 5th. A pre- and post-game party will be held in “The Red Zone” on the east side of the Kuyper Athletics Complex parking lot, with a kid’s zone of family activities and games, lunch, and post-game pizza party. The Class of 1974 will celebrate its 50-year reunion with a dinner and alumni will organize other class parties.

For registration information and the full list of events, find a link here.

Sporting Events Scheduled:
Women’s Tennis vs Wartburg – 4 pm on Friday, October 4th at the Pella High School Tennis Courts
Volleyball vs Luther – 5 pm on Friday, October 4th at P.H. Kuyper Gymnasium
Women’s Tennis vs Coe – Noon on Saturday, October 5th at the Pella High School Tennis Courts
Football vs Simpson College – 1 pm on Saturday, October 5th at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium

Traditions to Catch:
The Dutch Masters Golf Tournament – 8 am on Friday, October 4th at the Pella Golf and Country Club
Lemming Race – 6 pm Friday, October 4th outside the Geisler Library
Athletics Hall of Honor Banquet – 6:30 pm on Friday, October 4th
Sunday Brunch – 11 am on Sunday, October 6th at Central Market
The Flying Pans Alumni Steel Band concert – 1 pm on Sunday, October 6th in Douwstra Auditorium
Stina Henslee’s two-dimensional mixed media art display – Monday, September 30th through October 4th from 9 am to 5 pm in the Mills Gallery in the Lubbers Center for the Visual Arts