THON Chair: Event Sees Its ‘Best Set-up’ Yet at Jordan Center

Set-up and logistical preparations for the annual Penn State Interfraternity/Panhellenic Dance Marathon have gone exceptionally well Friday, THON Overall Chairwoman Kirsten Kelly said.

‘I would say it’s the best set-up that THON has seen at the Jordan Center,’ Kelly said, appearing at a pre-THON press conference about 2 p.m.

She said the more than 700 THON dancers are due to arrive in the facility shortly after 4 p.m., when they’ll enter through a ‘human tunnel,’ she said.

Among the biggest changes that longtime THON observers will notice this year, Kelly said, is a pre-THON show that will begin about 4:30 p.m. She said it’ll feature a new visually new experience with new content.

Other fresh twists for THON 2011 will include a pep rally and an indoor ‘walking track’ where dancers may walk to take a break from the main event floor, Kelly said. And a to-be-announced surprise will be introduced a couple hours into THON, she said.

In other details from the press conference:

• Kelly said Penn State football Coach Joe Paterno, often an energetic and enthusiastic presence at THON, probably won’t make it to the event this year. She said the coach is due for a Nike meeting on the West Coast; that’s expected to prevent his THON attendance. But Paterno and his wife, Sue Paterno, ‘do send their support,’ Kelly said.

• Four Diamonds Fund founder Charles Millard, 83, said he’ll ‘try to get down to the (main) floor as much as I can and meet as many of the dancers as I can. … I always like to make an appearance with the families.’ All THON proceeds benefit the Four Diamonds Fund, which support pediatric-cancer research and treatment.

Related coverage

• The StateCollege.com THON page