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MARSHALL -- Part of Southwest Minnesota State University's homecoming celebrations will be held downtown this year, university spokespeople confirmed Friday.
A free outdoor concert will be held in downtown Marshall after the homecoming football game Oct. 3.
"Everyone is excited to see how it goes," said Nathan Polfliet, associate vice president of advancement at SMSU.
Having the concert downtown will be a good way to bring Marshall and SMSU community members together, he said.
Twin Cities-based band Junk FM will be performing on Third Street in downtown Marshall at 7 p.m. on Oct. 3.
The annual SMSU homecoming parade will be held on the university campus again this year, instead of traveling through downtown. However, Polfliet said representatives of the university and local businesses discussed finding other opportunities to bring people downtown during homecoming.
Polfliet said the SMSU Foundation and the Marshall Downtown Business Association worked together to make the concert possible.
Concerts have been part of homecoming festivities in the past. At the same time, many Mustang football fans also head to establishments downtown after the homecoming football game, Polfliet said. Holding a concert downtown seemed like a good fit, and would be a way to help support local businesses.
On their website, Junk FM describe their band as "A crack team of musician performers who just wanna see how ridiculous the dance floor can get over the course of the night." The four-member group are based out of Minneapolis, and play a wide range of music from the 1980s through the 2000s. Junk FM's biography said the band performs genre-bending mashups of songs, and jumps between different music styles like country, rock, pop and more.
More information on SMSU's homecoming festivities, including a full schedule of events, is available online at https://www.smsualumni.com/homecoming/.