A ROCKING GOOD TIME AT UO.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

First-year University of Oregon student Danae Dutra held on for dear life while a mechanical bull jerked and spun and eventually flung her sideways into an inflatable crash pad.

"It reminds me of being back at home," said the 18-year-old from the rural town of Scappoose. "Trying to stay centered (on the bull) is the hardest part. As soon as you get off center you're gone."

It wasn't just freshmen who showed up on Friday at the Erb Memorial Union for InterMingle, a start-of-school festival geared toward students of all ages. Administrators hope to make the event an annual happening at the university. It's all part of an ongoing attempt to offer more safe, alcohol-free events on campus, said Gregg Lobisser, director of student activities.

"It's not an educational program, it's a social-recreational program, and it's meant to be fun," Lobisser said.

Along with mechanical bull riding, Friday night's festivities included crafts, salsa dance classes, free henna tattoos and a Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament, which was shaping up to be very popular.

"We already have 47 people signed up, and there are only 35 spots," said event organizer Mandy Chong hours before the tournament's 10 p.m. start time.

Attendance was scarce early in the evening, but organizers were hopeful that more students would show up as the night wore on. The festival was scheduled to last until 2 a.m.

Ben Dowdy, 20, a junior, was attracted to the sports games happening on the East Lawn of the EMU.

"All the bright colors and loud noises really drew me out of my dorm room," Dowdy said. "It looked a lot better than my wall, which I had been staring at for about 20 minutes."

After finding a willing victim, Dowdy and several of his dorm-mates took part in a game of "human bowling." Jess Hartsock, 20, donned a helmet, climbed inside a round steel cage and allowed himself to be rolled into a rack of 4-foot-tall bowling pins.

"I can't believe we got a strike," said a slightly dizzy Hartsock as he emerged from the cage.

Lobisser said that preventing the kinds of alcohol-fueled riots that have plagued the West University neighborhood in recent years may have been in the back of the minds of the administrators who organized the InterMingle festival, but it wasn't the motivation for the event. He said the festival grew out of a desire to create one big signature event to mark the start of the school year. Funding for the $25,000 event came from various student groups and sponsors.

"If students have a good time, if we attract both returning and new students and they take advantage of the more than 100 (prizes) that have been given by various companies and departments, I'll feel like it's a success," Lobisser said.

Many students liked the idea of the festival, including Nathan Schultens, 19, who came with his Beta Theta Pi fraternity brothers to recruit a new pledge class for the fall rush. Meanwhile, Corrie Farnsworth, 27, wondered whether the event really would keep students out of trouble.

"Taylor's (Bar & Grill) is just (down) the street, and that's the No. 1 college spot in town," she said.

But Danae Dutra, the mechanical bull rider from Scappoose, liked the idea of a festival that brought all students, instead of just the first-year Ducks, together.

"I think it's a really great thing to do," she said. "It helps the freshmen get out and start mingling."

CAPTION(S):

Freshman Michael Fogg of Lake Oswego momentarily turns outgoing as he is pitched from a mechanical bull Friday at a 15-hour party at the University of Oregon known as InterMingle. Students not bucking and tumbling were taking part in events such as "human bowling" and poker. U n i v e r s i t y l i f e