Baker graduation and National Championship watch party set; dance and voice show scheduled; Eudora City Hall gets new website

Baker University President Lynn Murray will have a very busy and well-traveled weekend.

Murray will preside over the Baldwin City university’s fall commencements Sunday after a trip back from Daytona Beach, Fla., where she will attend Saturday’s NAIA football championship game that pits Baker against the Indiana school St. Francis.

Murray will first preside over the undergraduate ceremony of 218 graduates of the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, School of Nursing and School of Professional and Graduate Studies at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Collins Center on the Baldwin City campus. She will follow by heading the post-graduated commencement ceremony at 4 p.m. at the Collins Center.

Bernard Fried, managing member of Keylix Capital Group LLC, will give the commencement address at both ceremonies. Fried is an instructor of management and leadership courses at Baker and has developed undergraduate and graduate courses for the school.

Murray and perhaps a few of the graduates will fly back from Daytona Beach after the game, which starts at 5 p.m. Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPN 3 for those who can’t make it to Florida. To allow local fans a collective game experience, the Wooden Spoke Restaurant, 203 First St., will have a watch party beginning at 4 p.m. Baker will provide free appetizers at the event.

The Baldwin Academy of Dance and Voice astutely scheduled its annual holiday performance before the community gives itself over to pigskin mania. The academy’s young dancers and singers will present a 1 p.m. performance of “A Maple Leaf Nutcracker” at the Performing Arts Center at Baldwin Junior High School. The event includes complimentary sweets and beverage, craft making and face painting for children, a holiday selfie station and a silent auction.

The city of Eudora is presenting a new face to the world, at least to the World Wide Web. The city launched its newly redesigned website Tuesday. Leslie Herring, assistant to the Eudora city manager, told the Eudora City Commission in August the site design was modeled off that of the city of Castle Rock, Colo. It features a navigation bar across the top with links for city departments and sites of interest to businesses, residents and visitors. The front page also has a calendar and updates on local issues. Viewers will also find homepage links to report concerns, pay bills online, check out city employment opportunities, access the city newsletter and request notifications of city activities and happenings.