This year’s Family Weekend was the largest in Loyola history, according to Alumni and Parent Relations.

The three-day event drew more than 780 family members from 34 states and two foreign countries to campus.

The most popular and well-attended event was on Sunday morning, a sold-out Jazz Brunch in the St. Charles Room.

The event fell on the weekend of March 12 to 14, coinciding with New Orleans’ St. Patrick’s parades and festivals.

Ian Sander, a Loyola parent from Los Angeles, went to Friday’s parade with his family.

“I thought it was a lot of fun,” he said, “as did my family.”

Sander also went to class with his son on Friday.

“I like the size of the classes and the individual attention that he was able to get,” Sander said.

Parents John and Donna Linyard, from Lafayette, who had attended the Parents Weekend twice before, said they like the friendly atmosphere of Loyola’s comparatively small campus.

Sander said he also appreciated the opportunity to meet with deans on Friday.

Parents were invited to attend special sessions, where they learned about the changing needs of college students and some of the strategies that Loyola is using to enhance student engagement with their schoolwork and to improve the quality of the student who leaves Loyola.

Organizers also included events designed for students’ younger siblings who might want to visit their older brother or sister away at college.

On Saturday, young children were invited to attend Wolfpup Story Hour to hear storyteller Johnette Downing tell tales “with Louisiana spice.” Afterward, they were invited to get their faces painted in a St. Patrick’s Day themed event.

Older and younger siblings also got a chance to bond at the Sibling Olympics Saturday afternoon.

Local students’ families enjoyed the weekend as well. Donna Vance, whose son Daniel is in the College of Music, said she enjoyed the opportunity the event gave her to spend time with her son.

Family Weekend also gave many students, especially those who moved far from home to come to Loyola, the opportunity to spend time with their families who were in town for the event.

Criminal justice freshman Brandy Oliver’s parents couldn’t make it to the event, but instead her friend’s family drove in from Las Vegas for the weekend.

“Even though my parents could not make it, I have a friend whose whole family came all the way from Las Vegas,” Oliver said.

Oliver wanted here parents to be able to make it, but said she and her friend had a great time with her family.

“They hadn’t seen each other in a while, so family week was a great excuse to get to visit,” she said.

Thomas Slack can be reached at [email protected].

Kim Lange, her husband Andrew Lange III, and their son Andrew Lange IV gather as a family for a New Orleans-style jazz brunch in the Orleans Room after Sunday Mass on Family Weekend.

Drama communications junior Ashley Minnick, second from left, enjoys the Jazz Brunch in the Orleans Room with her sister Kate, mother Linda and father John, during Family Weekend.