Happy Friday, Lafayette.

Here’s what’s in Friday’s edition:

Moving soon?

Lafayette Moving Totes rents sturdy, stackable plastic totes that they deliver to your door and pick up after you’ve moved. No tape, no late-night box runs to Lowes, no cardboard graveyard in the garage.

For Purdue students, Lafayette Moving Totes will drop totes at your apartment or dorm before move-out and haul them away once you're settled somewhere new. Realtors looking for a closing gift? Hand their clients a tote rental that makes move-in dramatically less painful. And for locals moving across town, it means one trip to pack, one trip to unpack, and nothing left over.

The Parks and Recreation festival series is back, and the first night is Dance Night.

What to expect:

This has been running since 2014 & it’s family-friendly, open to all, and free to walk through.

🗓️Tuesday, June 2nd

⏰6 pm to 8:30 pm

📍Columbian Park.

In 1869, the Lafayette area won the bid to be the home of Indiana’s land-grant college. John Purdue, a Lafayette dry-goods merchant, closed the deal with $150,000 of his own money, on one condition… the school would carry his name. The deal was settled.

Classes finally opened five years later, on September 16, 1874. There were 6 instructors and 39 students. And a whole year of tuition cost a whopping $20!

But when you read a little further about the first class, you find there is a caveat next to the 39 number. Only 13 of the 39 students were ready for college-level work. The other 26 were dropped into a hastily built prep program, the Purdue Academy, which ran for two decades.

One of those six instructors was Harvey Wiley, the first chemistry professor. He had to have been a very busy guy. Wiley coached baseball, organized the first cadet corps, and later wrote the Pure Food and Drug Act.

As of the fall semester in 2025, 54,651 students were enrolled in West Lafayette.

Sources: Purdue University Archives and Special Collections; purdue.edu official history; Purdue Chemistry Department 150th-anniversary history; Robert Topping, A Century and Beyond (1988).

Like what we do here? Here’s a chance to support Lafayette Lookout and our goal of connecting locals to the city & also connecting locals to each other. Appreciate you all!

For all of the gas station connoisseurs out there, Wawa off South Street is opening soon. June 24th at 8 am to be exact. There will be free t-shirts handed out to the first 100 customers and free any-size hot coffee for anyone through June 28th. I personally will be grabbing one of their hoagies in the near future.

Friday

80🌡️55 | 🌤️ | 0% | 💨3 mph

Saturday

77🌡️57 | 🌤️ | 0% | 💨6 mph

Sunday

77🌡️52 | 🌤️ | 0% | 💨4 mph

Monday

81🌡️56 | 🌤️ | 0% | 💨2 mph

Tuesday

80🌡️57 | ☀️ | 0% | 💨5 mph

Cousins Maine Lobster

Sagamore Park Centre | 12 pm to 7 pm

Comedy Improv Show

Rat Pak Venue | 7:30 pm

Wine After Work

Wildcat Creek Winery | 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Succulent Terrarium Workshop

The Plant Pub | 6 pm

Sourdough 101 Workshop

A Pinch of Pepper | 5 pm to 8 pm

Lafayette Farmer’s Market

5th and Main Streets, Downtown Lafayette | 8 am to 12:30 pm

Crossroads Cars and Coffee

6274 E 375 S, Lafayette | 9 am to 12 pm

Grand Opening: Honey Child Coffee

Wabash Lofts | 9 am to 1 pm

Night Sky Wellness Walk

Prophetstown State Park | 9 pm to 10:30 pm

Beats, Bites & Bottles

Wildcat Creek Winery | 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Adult Program: Plant Swap

West Lafayette Public Library | 2 pm to 3:30 pm

Valley Plaza Flea Market

Leaping Leopard Antiques | 9 am to 3 pm

Sensory Swim

Tropicanoe Cove Water Park | 6:15 pm to 8:15 pm

Insect Safari 

Prophetstown State Park | 1 pm to 2 pm

Art in the Park: DANCE NIGHT

Columbian Park | 6 pm to 8:30 pm

Thank you for taking the time to read this far! If you have any suggestions for stories, restaurants to try, events going on, or cool things people are doing in the community, send them over!

Enjoy the weekend,

Blake | Publisher, Lafayette Lookout