It just made sense to try to combine Kansas University’s Open House and Parent’s Weekend, which together had the potential to turn into one big weekend of festivities.

This year, KU was finally able to do it.

With convenient scheduling of a KU football game, the Fine Arts Collage Concert and activities by SUA and the Lied Center, KU has made two events into one. The KU Open House and Family Weekend will be Sept. 19-20 on campus.

“We’ve wanted to do it this way the last couple of years,” said Margey Frederick, Open House coordinator. “But with football, no schedule is locked in until 10 days before the game.”

Frederick was referring to the television scheduling of football games. The Big 12 Conference announces which games will be televised at 6 p.m. 10 days before game day. On Sept. 20, Kansas will be host to Div. 1-AA foe Jacksonville State. Frederick said she wanted a 6 p.m. game for Open House weekend, and the Jacksonville State matchup is the game least likely to be moved for television purposes.

With other events conveniently planned for Sept. 19-20, KU finally found the match it had desired for three years.

“It would be great if we could do this every year,” Frederick said. “But we may not be able to.”

Frederick worked closely with the athletics department to find the perfect-match weekend. In addition to the football game, the Jayhawk volleyball team will be playing Colorado on Sept. 20 at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.

But athletics aren’t the centerpiece of the two-day event. Participants will be able to tour campus, visit museums, meet professors and attend admissions presentations throughout the day Sept. 20. On Sept. 19, the School of Fine Arts will have its annual Collage Concert, a fast-paced, 90-minute concert at the Lied Center featuring the talents of hundreds of visual and performing arts students.

And for people who have little interest in the Saturday night football game, the Lied Center will have a performance of the musical “Fame” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20. In addition, SUA is sponsoring comedian Tim Young, who will perform at 8 p.m. that Saturday in the Kansas Union.

Unlike past years, the Open House has been shortened to just four hours, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 20. It was cut an hour for the New Student Family Tailgate, which begins at 3 p.m. outside Memorial Stadium before the Jayhawk football team takes on Jacksonville State.

“That usually gets 800 to 900 people,” Frederick said of the tailgate.

For more information on the Open House, call Frederick at (785) 864-2341.