complete with fireworks and a birthday cake -- will kick off Buffalo State College's 125th anniversary beginning at 3 p.m. Friday.
The quasquicentennial event, to take place in and around Rockwell Hall on the Elmwood Avenue campus, will be the first of many observances throughout the academic year and will include proclamations from Mayor Masiello and County Executive Gorski.
It will be free to the public and will take place until dusk.
"We are taking this occasion to highlight Buffalo State College's outstanding legacy of service of higher education to Western New York and to the State of New York," said College President Muriel A. Moore.
Music by James Mabry's Big Band and the Buffalo State College Chorale Ensemble will accompany opening festivities on the steps of Rockwell Hall. Campus bus tours will depart hourly from the bus shelter on Rockwell Road.
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Tours of the college's Performing Arts Center and the Burchfield-Penney Art Center will be offered, and the college's art conservation department will hold a limited-admission open house.
Music spanning the 125 years since the college opened -- as the Buffalo Normal School -- will be played. Musical styles will include African rhythms, rock and jazz. There will also be a clarinet ensemble, and a flute choir concert performed by alumni in Rockwell Hall.
A history of the college -- "State University College at Buffalo, A History of Community, 1971-1996" by John R. Aiken, a professor emeritus of history -- will be on sale for $10 in the College Store. A reception for campus authors will be held at the store at 4 p.m.
A seven-foot sculpture by visiting artist Jay Wholley will be dedicated in front of Rockwell Hall at 5 p.m.
"Craft Art from Western New York," a show of work by faculty and alumni, will open with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Burchfield-Penney Art Center.
An art auction of African and Native American art will help fund the college's Martin Luther King Jr. and Beulah Fodin scholarships.
There will be a Kids' Corner sponsored by Buffalo State's Child Care Center, with activities including face painting. A fingerprinting and child identification service will also be offered.
Numerous other exhibits and programs will include a 16-panel display of the history of the college -- including memorabilia, manuscripts and photographs of historic significance, available for loan to community groups.
A time capsule will be buried. The college's 125th birthday cake -- in the shape of Rockwell Hall -- will be cut and a champagne toast will be made. Fireworks will follow.
A black-tie fund raiser, the "125th Anniversary Scholarship Gala," will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday in the E.H. Butler Library on campus.
The third annual scholarship benefit of the Buffalo State College Foundation, the gala dinner dance will support a variety of scholarship programs for qualified Buffalo State students, including the All-College Honors Program.
A highlight of the evening will be the live auction of a walk-on part on NBC-TV's "Homicide," and a signed copy of the script, donated by Buffalo State alumnus Tom Fontana, a writer-producer and co-creator of the series.
Tickets, at $125 per person, are available through the Buffalo State College Foundation.
