As winter’s snowpiles grudgingly melted last spring, students tentatively took to Alumni Walk, finding sunny nooks and apt open spaces for Frisbee tossing.

But the new space, stretching from College Street to the new dining Commons, didn’t get its first real workout until Reunion — June 7, 2008, at 11:24 a.m. to be exact — when 100-year-old Al Webber ’28 led the 2008 Alumni Parade down Alumni Walk.

The Alumni Parade moves down Alumni Walk for the first time. Photograph by H. Jay Burns.

The parade concluded near Garcelon Field, where alumni gathered to bestow service awards on Robert ’50 and Gladys Bovino Dunn ’51 and on Jason ’95 and Deborah Nowak Verner ’95.

After a picnic lunch, the walk was dedicated during a street fair featuring jugglers, a steelpan band, and dessert. Jack Keigwin ’59, lead project donor with his family, reflected on the ebullient scene. "Taking in this sight — it’s exactly what we had hoped to accomplish," he said.

Alumni Walk donors Jack ’59 and Beverly Keigwin P’86, following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, take a symbolic first stroll.

As alums and their families embraced the new physical space, Keigwin talked about the College’s embrace of its alumni. "Alumni are the soul of Bates," he said. "You have always honored Bates with your advocacy and support. Today, this place honors you."