ENMU, Portales to host 'Rally on Main' event

Eastern New Mexico University and the city of Portales will be hosting the "Rally on Main" event this weekend. This first-of-its-kind event will allow ENMU students and their families to immerse themselves in Portales culture and let those not from around here get to know the city, said Portales Mayor Ron Jackson.

"This is the first year that this event has been held. Eastern always has a parent's weekend, but in conjunction with Eastern's parent's weekend, they decided to call it Rally on Main," Jackson said.

Jackson said there will be entertainment venues, including live music, food booths, a corn hole tournament, and much more.

"There's a great opportunity for the folks to come downtown and participate in the activities on Friday, and then there's more activities on Saturday, having a pep rally at the courthouse square," Jackson said, adding that there will be different events leading up to the ultimate event, which is the big football game at Greyhound Stadium on Saturday night.

"It's important for Portales because of working together with our university. You know, in the past, we haven't had the greatest working relationship, and we're improving that all the time and this is one activity that we think will really make a big difference in the involvement of the community in Eastern and Eastern's involvement with the community," Jackson said.

John Houser, assistant vice president for marketing and communications at ENMU, said Rally on Main was made possible through a collaboration between the university and the city.

Houser said the goal of this event is to bring the community and the university together for a weekend of fun events.

"It's us giving back to the community more than anything. I mean, we've moved a lot of our Family Weekend events down to like 311 and to the courthouse cafe. We're supporting local businesses down there, we rented the sewing basket facility, we've worked with Enchantment Vineyards to bring the beer and wine garden," Houser said.

Also present will be local food trucks and musicians.

Schedule of events:

Friday

5-9 p.m. Rally on Main beer and wine festival.

5-7 p.m. Musical performance by the Pony Creek Trio.

7-9 p.m. Musical performance by The Hamilton's.

Saturday

9-10 a.m. ENMU Campus Life DJ.

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 311 Event Center Rib Cookoff.

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rally on Main Family Day featuring inflatables, food trucks, music, fun, and games.

10 a.m.-11 a.m. Fully Boddy Performance.

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Face Painting courtesy of ENMU Art program.

11 a.m. to Noon ENMU Jazz Combos.

Noon to 1 p.m. ENMU Campus Life DJ.

1-2 p.m. Community Pep Rally.

2-3 p.m. Campus Life DJ.