University of Md. to celebrate Maryland Day with hundreds of activities

400 Maryland Day events mostly line the college quad area. (UMD/John Consoli)
About 400 Maryland Day events will line the college quad area. (UMD/John Consoli)
The dairy and farm on the College Park campus honors the University's beginning more than 150 years ago as the Maryland Agricultural College. (UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
The dairy and farm on the College Park campus honors the University’s beginning more than 150 years ago as the Maryland Agricultural College. (UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
A University of Maryland student shows off a young member of the farm stock at last year's Maryland Day.(UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
A University of Maryland student shows off a young member of the farm stock at last year’s Maryland Day. (UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
This year's signature ice cream flavor created by the Maryland Dairy honors the new football coach D.J. Durkin.(WTOP/Kristi King)
This year’s signature ice cream flavor created by the Maryland Dairy honors new football coach D.J. Durkin. (WTOP/Kristi King)
The Maryland Dairy on the College Park campus produces numbers of ice cream flavors for sale. Each year a new flavor is debuted to honor someone special. (WTOP/Kristi King)
Graham Binder says the Maryland Dairy on the College Park campus produces several ice cream flavors for sale. Each year a new flavor is debuted to honor someone special. (WTOP/Kristi King)
You can get up close and personal with all kinds of different animals at Maryland Day. "We breed horses for racing - a lot of people don't know that," University of Maryland College Park Senior Communications Associate, Graham Binder. (UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
You can get up close and personal with many different animals at Maryland Day. “We breed horses for racing – a lot of people don’t know that,” says University of Maryland College Park senior communications associate Graham Binder. (UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
"Terpin' Durkin Crunch" has a Tahitian Vanilla Bean base with dark chocolate covered pretzels, shaved bittersweet chocolate and a caramel swirl.(WTOP/Kristi King)
Terpin’ Durkin Crunch has a Tahitian Vanilla Bean base with dark chocolate covered pretzels, shaved bittersweet chocolate and a caramel swirl. (WTOP/Kristi King)
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400 Maryland Day events mostly line the college quad area. (UMD/John Consoli)
The dairy and farm on the College Park campus honors the University's beginning more than 150 years ago as the Maryland Agricultural College. (UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
A University of Maryland student shows off a young member of the farm stock at last year's Maryland Day.(UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
This year's signature ice cream flavor created by the Maryland Dairy honors the new football coach D.J. Durkin.(WTOP/Kristi King)
The Maryland Dairy on the College Park campus produces numbers of ice cream flavors for sale. Each year a new flavor is debuted to honor someone special. (WTOP/Kristi King)
You can get up close and personal with all kinds of different animals at Maryland Day. "We breed horses for racing - a lot of people don't know that," University of Maryland College Park Senior Communications Associate, Graham Binder. (UMD/Edwin Remsberg)
"Terpin' Durkin Crunch" has a Tahitian Vanilla Bean base with dark chocolate covered pretzels, shaved bittersweet chocolate and a caramel swirl.(WTOP/Kristi King)

WASHINGTON — The University of Maryland in College Park will celebrate Maryland Day on Saturday with an open house featuring hundreds of family-friendly interactive events.

From a climbing wall and mock crime scenes to month-old race horses, there’s plenty to see and do.

“This is our chance to show the community why we’re a top-20 research institution in the nation. We’re excelling in all these different fields — we have a variety of different colleges,” said University of Maryland College Park senior communications associate Graham Binder.

The agricultural school was the founding college of the University of Maryland, which is why there’s a farm on campus.

“With all [the] types of animals you can possibly imagine. Cows, horses — we breed horses for racing; a lot of people don’t know that,” Binder said.

There’s also a cow with a hole in its side.

“It’s a fistulated cow, so you can put your fist into the cow and you can feel around inside of the cow’s organs,” Binder said. “It’s for science; it doesn’t hurt the cow.”

Other activities include:

  • The criminology tent lays out a crime scene for you to solve by evaluating evidence with criminologists and forensic scientists;
  • The cooking stage features meals prepared with produce and meat grown by the agricultural school.
  • The Do Good Challenge area allows you to package meals for hungry and underserved members of the community.
  • At the farm you can see goats, pigs, chickens, and month-old foals.
  • At the Maryland Dairy, you can see cows and buy Terrapin-produced ice cream.

The signature ice cream flavor created to debut at the 2016 Maryland Day honors new football coach D.J. Durkin. “Terpin’ Durkin Crunch” has a Tahitian vanilla bean base with dark chocolate-covered pretzels, shaved bittersweet chocolate and a caramel swirl.

There’s plenty of parking on campus, and activities run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Kristi King

Kristi King is a veteran reporter who has been working in the WTOP newsroom since 1990. She covers everything from breaking news to consumer concerns and the latest medical developments.

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