UPDATE: Due to the weather forecast, The University of Toledo’s Founder’s Day concert is being moved indoors to Savage Arena, and the fireworks and food trucks are postponed to be held at a later date.
To mark The University of Toledo’s 150th birthday, UToledo is hosting a commemorative Founder’s Day celebration Wednesday, Oct. 12, featuring a day of fun, food and music, with headliner Grammy-winning rapper T-Pain.
T-Pain
A lineup of performances by national and local acts will take place from 5 to 10:20 p.m. in Savage Arena. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. with a maximum capacity of 4,000 people on a first-come, first-served basis. Concessions in Savage Arena will be open.
The free concert begins with local bands Distant Cousinz at 5 p.m. and the Skittle Bots at 5:50 p.m., followed by national acts country-rapper David Morris at 6:50 p.m. and country singer Nate Smith at 7:55 p.m. Headliner T-Pain will take the stage at 9:10 p.m.
Parking permits are not required on the University’s Main Campus from 2 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, through 7 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 13. Exclusions include handicap, reserved, patient and metered parking.
The Founders’ Day BBQ at both Centennial Mall on Main Campus and the Outdoor Amphitheater by Four Season’s Bistro on Health Science Campus will kick off the sesquicentennial celebration.
From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Chartwells will serve free hamburgers — regular and veggie — hot dogs, chips and birthday cake on both campuses, and SuperGames will provide the outdoor activities including axe throwing, bouncy boxing and a photo station on Main Campus; and bounce a ball, dual skee-ball and zap a mole on Health Science Campus. Florida-based indie folk band the 502s will provide free music on Main Campus.
Beginning at 3 p.m. in the Canaday Center’s Carl Joseph Reading Commons, located on the fifth floor of Carlson Library, retired university archivist Barbara Floyd will lecture on the “Ten Events That Shaped 150 Years” of the University. Floyd is author of the upcoming book “An Institution for the Promoting of Knowledge: The University of Toledo at 150.”
Following the lecture, the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections will open its sesquicentennial exhibition, “Vision, Faith and Hard Work,” which will explore the events that shaped UToledo since its founding in 1872 with photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, ephemera and artifacts. The exhibition will be on display in the Canaday Center through Aug. 1, 2023.
The lecture and exhibition are free and open to the campus and public.
The Founder’s Day celebration is supported by generous sponsors, including Kripke Enterprises and ParkUToledo.
Established in 1872, The University of Toledo has a storied history with more than 168,000 alumni around the world. A year-long sesquicentennial celebration will recognize the historic milestones, achievements and the positive impact the University has had since its founding 150 years ago.
