By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
BGSU President Rodney Rogers reiterated the headlines about the university’s growing enrollment and its top ranking by the Wall Street Journal.
Bowling Green Mayor Mike Aspacher said he felt that progress.
Rogers and Aspacher were addressing the pep rally portion of the fourth Rally BG on Main on Saturday.
The event created in the wake of the pandemic closures celebrates the relationship between the university and the city it calls home.
The connection is a close one. BGSU thrives in part, Rogers said, because it is located in BG, a great college town, and if the university prospers that helps the city, Aspacher said.
When the Falcon Marching Band, at 425 strong the second largest band in the country, came down the street, Aspacher said he felt that momentum.
It was hard not to with the band taking up an entire city block, rocking out fight songs and the jazz hit “Birdland.”
The pep rally was the highlight of the six-hour event that closed Main Street from Washington to Clay.
There was plenty to keep BGSU and community members of all ages, including future Falcons, active.
Jon Waters, the Falcon Marching Band director, invited the members of the Bowling Green Marching band to change their colors to orange after they graduate and join the FMB’s ranks.
There were bounce houses, basketball and baseball booths, cornhole and putt-putt golf equipment for pick up games as well as a Ninja Obstacle course. Food trucks were stationed in the Huntington parking lot, and DORA drinks were available from local establishments.
Kevin Madaras of Myla Marcus Winery said he was doing a good business.
Katie Downie of Bowling Green was at the rally with kids in tow. “It’s very family friendly.”
“I love the rally a lot,” said BGSU senior Robert Oaks, from Cleveland. He said he appreciates everything about it, including the number of community members who attend.
In 2022 when he’d just come to BGSU, he said, he was uncertain whether he’d made the right decision.
When he attended the rally, Oaks said, “I saw this is where I want to be.”
The zipline that on the street in front of the city building and the pep rally, brought Johnnie Nagel, an education major in the education program.
He, like a number of other students, said he was attracted by the eateries downtown.
Serenity Thompson had just arrived. She had come down to discover new features of the downtown. A sophomore, she’s visited downtown, especially the coffeeshops.
That’s music to Amy Craft Ahrens’ ears. Her family has done business in downtown for almost 50 years.
Getting students downtown is a continuing challenge. Her father, Floyd Craft, said it’s not unusual to talk to a BGSU senior in Ben Franklin’s and be told this was the first time they’d been downtown. The Rally gets students into the stores.
“It’s a great thing to see,” said Craft Ahrens.
More important than what they may buy on the day is that they are more familiar with what downtown has to offer, and that there alternatives to chain and big box stores.
She praised the city and university leadership.
Craft Ahrens said there has been an uptick in student business at Ben Franklin and For Keeps in the past couple years, especially on special weekends when families are in town.
