The entertainment scene in the WSC vicinity is contributed to by natural, commercial, cultural, religious and campus sponsored activities. Along the cultural vein, WSC students have a unique exposure to the best in music, ballet and theater. The magic of classical music is brought to campus several times each year by Maurice Abravanel and the world famous Utah Symphony. Another Utah based group to receive world acclaim is Ballet West, whose performances have enchanted Weber State audiences for years. A short trip to Salt Lake City can offer a music lover the opportunity to enjoy the music of the distinguished Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Exhibits of paintings, photographs, sculpture and an array of other forms of graphic arts are frequently featured in the Fine Arts Center, the Union Building, Weber County Library and the Bertha Eccles Art Center near downtown Ogden. Avenues to good times available in campus are annually created by the Activities Board of the Union Building. Through the committees of the board, students are offered an agenda of lectures, recent release movies, concerts, dances and informal concerts in the new "coffee house". The coffee house was created by the Music and Talent Committee to become a center of entertainment by local talent. Across the hall from the coffee house is the Union Games Center. It offers bowling, ping pong, pool and pinball machines, at a very reasonable rate. The Arts and Crafts Center in the basement of the U.B. furnishes students with equipment and advice to help them "do your own thing" in the way of candles, posters, photo finishing, woodworking, leather craft and art. The gymnasium facilities are open to students at various times during the week. These include the swimming pool, handball courts, weight training rooms, gymnastics equipment, basketball courts, tennis courts and bicycle rentals. (The U.B. also has a couple of bicycles built for two that can be rented.) All of the gymnasium activities require the participant to have a student I.D. card. For those that could rather watch than participate in sports, WSC competes in a full season of intercollegiate athletics. Home games are free for all full time WSC students. For the hearty back-to-nature individuals, the rugged surrounding geography of Northern Utah provides unlimited opportunity for hunting, fishing, climbing, hiking, swimming, skiing (both water and snow), boating, snowmobiling and almost anything else man can do with himself and nature. The mountains of Utah are famous for their snow skiing possibilities. From the campus of Weber State there are at least three ski resorts within 30 minutes and about ten within an hour or two. Snow Basin, Nordic Valley, and Powder Mountain are all located near Ogden. Alta, Brighton, Snowbird, and Solitude to just name a few are in the Salt Lake City vicinity. Park City, once a rough and tumble mining town is now the center for two prosperous ski resorts in the mountains east of the Great Salt Lake Valley. Brianhead and actor Robert Redford's Sundance are also just a little farther south of Salt Lake. Many of the ski resorts operate year-round with summer attraction to replace the melted snow. Depending on the persons preference, the term "getting looses" can be attained to varying degrees. The Ogden and Salt Lake City night life is as entertaining as a person makes it. An ample number of movie theaters offer a wide choice of the latest efforts of Hollywood and the other film capitals. Film ratings have drawn a lot of fire in Northern Utah, much like all metropolitan areas, but a person can find a good variety of movies. In addition to the performances on film, theatrical activities of Weber and its neighbor schools, as well as several professional and semi-professional troupes provide the area with quality selections of the world's best playwrights. WSC evening offerings also include special performances of professional entertainers offered by the Fine Arts Series Committee. Even though Ogden is rather weak in its offering of fine restaurants, when the area is enlarged to include the Salt Lake City area, a person can consume food from nearly every society on earth. Just as the food varies, so does the atmosphere and services offered by the people in the business of entertaining stomachs. For those people who like to sip the evening away while listening to the beat of a loud funky band, numerous lounges in the area can accommodate them. Other activities available on a commercial basis are taking in a game of one of the local professional athletic groups. Both Ogden and Salt Lake have pro baseball teams. The Utah Stars pro basketball team which makes its home at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake has drawn record setting crowds to its games in its two year career in Utah. Also Salt Lake hosts a hockey team, the Golden Eagles, which also does its home town activities in the Salt Palace. Professional Auto racing in two locations in Salt Lake offer thrills for those who groove on that kind of speed. The Salt flats of the Great Salt Lake offer race enthusiasts an extremely rare opportunity to witness racing history being made. Many of the world's land speed records have been established, broken, established, broken and reestablished on the world reknown racestrip. Not all of the racing near the Great Salt Lake are on land. Willard Bay, just north ? Ogden is the site of world championship boat racing during the summer months. The hilly terrain around the Northern Utah foothills is also very conducive for competition of all terrain vehicles. During the warm weather in spring, summer, and early fall, the golf courses around Ogden have the funny habit of becoming inundated with, of all people, golfers Many excellent courses offer the duffers a most challenging array of par holes, bogie holes, double bogie holes, and those you would rather not mention. For the sportsters that enjoy the excitement generated by horse racing, cutter and chariot racing and rodeos, the Ogden area is noted for its activities. Ogden Pioneer Days, which features a championship rodeo, is the Weber area's celebration of the entrance of the Mormon Pioneers into the valley in 1847. The simultaneous celebration of the event in Salt Lake, The Days of 47, also gears a week's activities at the old west theme. Several other activities are held throughout the area to commemorate seasons, and events. A check with the local newspapers can usually keep a person relatively well informed on the special entertainment.