{"id":12141,"date":"2026-08-17T16:31:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T21:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=12141"},"modified":"2026-08-17T17:23:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:23:27","slug":"sau-blue-and-gold-day-welcomes-students-and-the-community-to-magnolia-square-on-august-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/2026\/sau-blue-and-gold-day-welcomes-students-and-the-community-to-magnolia-square-on-august-18\/","title":{"rendered":"SAU Blue and Gold Day welcomes students and the community to Magnolia Square on August 18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Southern Arkansas University, in partnership with the City of Magnolia, the Magnolia-Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, and the SAU Alumni Association, will host the 9th annual Blue &amp; Gold Day on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, on the Magnolia Square.<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12144 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/8.20.19-Blue-Gold-Day_49-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/8.20.19-Blue-Gold-Day_49-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/8.20.19-Blue-Gold-Day_49-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/8.20.19-Blue-Gold-Day_49-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/8.20.19-Blue-Gold-Day_49-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/8.20.19-Blue-Gold-Day_49-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The annual event brings SAU and the Magnolia community together to welcome students to town and celebrate the start of a new academic year. The event is free and open to the public. Community members are encouraged to wear blue and gold and join students for an evening of live music, activities, food, and Mulerider spirit.<\/p>\n<p>Festivities will begin at 6:45 p.m. with live music by Chase Emerson at the Albemarle Stage. Throughout the evening, attendees will have the chance to meet student-athletes, listen to local marching bands, enjoy free food, meet SAU\u2019s mascots, visit with local vendors and watch the SAU Rodeo Team show off their roping skills.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-12146 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/Blue-and-Gold-Day-2024_38-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"252\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/Blue-and-Gold-Day-2024_38-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/Blue-and-Gold-Day-2024_38-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/Blue-and-Gold-Day-2024_38-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/Blue-and-Gold-Day-2024_38-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/files\/2026\/08\/Blue-and-Gold-Day-2024_38-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 252px) 100vw, 252px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Students new to Magnolia will have the opportunity to connect with local businesses, organizations, and churches while learning more about the community they will call home during their time at SAU.<\/p>\n<p>A joint pep rally featuring Southern Arkansas University and Magnolia High School will begin at 8:00 p.m. at the Albemarle Stage. The celebration will include special remarks from SAU President Dr. Bruno Hicks, SAU Director of Athletics Steve Browning, and Magnolia Mayor Parnell Vann, along with performances celebrating the spirit of SAU and Magnolia.<\/p>\n<p>Shuttle service for SAU students will begin at 6:45 p.m. from the Reynolds Center parking lot in front of Blanchard Hall and will run continuously throughout the event.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Schedule of Events<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>3:00 p.m.<\/strong> \u2013The Magnolia Square will close to traffic, and all vehicles must be moved. Jefferson Street will remain open until 5:30 p.m.<\/li>\n<li><strong>5:45 p.m.<\/strong> \u2013 Vendors may begin setting up booths.<\/li>\n<li><strong>6:45\u20137:45 p.m.<\/strong> \u2013 Live music by Chase Emerson at the Albemarle Stage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>6:45 p.m.<\/strong> \u2013 Shuttle service begins from the Reynolds Center parking lot in front of Blanchard Hall and continues throughout the event.<\/li>\n<li><strong>7:15 p.m.<\/strong> \u2013 Students begin arriving at the Magnolia Square and may pick up Community Cards at the pickup\/drop-off tent.<\/li>\n<li><strong>8:00 p.m.<\/strong> \u2013 Joint SAU and Magnolia High School pep rally begins at the Albemarle Stage, featuring remarks from Dr. Bruno Hicks, Steve Browning, and Mayor Parnell Vann.<\/li>\n<li><strong>9:00 p.m.<\/strong> \u2013 Event ends.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more information, contact the SAU Office of Alumni Relations at (870) 235-4079 or <a href=\"mailto:saualumni@saumag.edu\">saualumni@saumag.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Southern Arkansas University, in partnership with the City of Magnolia, the Magnolia-Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, and the SAU Alumni Association, will host the 9th annual Blue &amp; Gold Day on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, on the Magnolia Square. The annual event brings SAU and the Magnolia community together to welcome students to town and&#8230; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/2026\/sau-blue-and-gold-day-welcomes-students-and-the-community-to-magnolia-square-on-august-18\/\"> Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1482,"featured_media":12142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,272,276,265,7753,284,288,143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni","category-archives","category-community-corner","category-events","category-homepage","category-office-of-student-activities","category-regional-news","category-student-life","entry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12141"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12149,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12141\/revisions\/12149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}