File photo/Cornell Marketing Group

Student groups performing at CU Downtown include the Taiko drum group Yamatai.

The inaugural CU Downtown community event in Ithaca will welcome Cornell’s incoming class, encourage students to explore the city beyond the campus and feature nonstop entertainment by Cornell students, Sept. 3 from noon to 4:30 p.m. on the Ithaca Commons.

The event will showcase 20 performing groups on the Bernie Milton Pavilion stage. The back-to-school celebration is free and open to the public, is family-friendly, and is geared to all Cornell students and the greater Ithaca community.

“It’s an historic event. I don’t think there’s ever been a time we’ve had so many performing student groups on the Ithaca Commons, one after the next,” said event coordinator Margherita Fabrizio, director of the Carol Tatkon Center, which provides support and resources for first-year students on North Campus.

The diverse range of performers includes the Absolute Zero Breakdance Club, After Six Ensemble, the Big Red Pep Band, CU Jazz Ensembles, Cornell Bhangra, Cornell Lion Dance, juggler Matan Presberg ’18, Teszia Belly Dance Troupe and the Japanese Taiko drum group Yamatai, among several a cappella, cultural, instrumental and dance groups from Cornell. The stage will be emceed by student on-air hosts from WVBR.

“This is a way that Cornell students get to contribute to the vitality and the fabric of the community. They are so excited to be coming down off the hill,” Fabrizio said. “We really want local residents to come to this, to have this opportunity to see these extraordinary students. So many of them are serious dancers and performers and musicians.”

The event offers some town-gown outreach opportunities also bringing students and community members together.

“It’s helpful for us, living in a small city in upstate New York, to see we are a global community and to tap into that,” Fabrizio said. “It’s a great way for permanent residents to connect with people from all over the country and all over the world.”

The Cornell International Friendship Program, offered through the International Students and Scholars Office, will have a table where community members can "sign up to befriend an international Cornell student, teach them about the community and have a cultural exchange,” she said.

Home Plate, a student-led initiative that originated with the Student Assembly city and local affairs committee, is “for community members who are interested in meeting students and being friends with them, inviting students to their homes and making them part of their lives while they’re here. Students can sign up to get matched up with a family.”

Students who attend will receive discount offers from local restaurants and retail businesses, and the event also will have demonstrations, scavenger hunts, tours, prizes and gift card raffles.

CU Downtown is organized by the Carol Tatkon Center, in partnership with the Ithaca Downtown Alliance and Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit.