A year's worth of effort becomes 48 hours of fun at 7 tonight when Rec Hall opens its doors to the 31st annual Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.
For the dancers, the night begins at the Nittany Lion Inn, where they will attend their final dancers meeting and receive gift bags and t-shirts from their moralers.
Adam Duff, Thon overall chair, said the morale team always plans many events to keep up the dancers' spirits.
"Morale will be doing tons of events, and I'm sure any individual moraler would be willing to do anything to make their dancer feel better," he said.
Liz Lorenz, a morale captain, said her moralers have been building relationships with their dancers and made posters for the dancers' lockers.
"We have a bunch of different surprises lined up for them throughout the weekend," she said.
However, morale isn't the only support the dancers will get this weekend.
Throughout the 48 hours, bands including The Phyrst Phamily, 2U, The Collective, Green Eggs, Velveeta and UUU will be performing to help keep dancers motivated.
"Every event leading up to Thon weekend is purely about the families, and during Thon weekend, that stays firmly in place, but we want to make sure that the dancers are entertained and safe and happy," said Darius Sepassi, Thon entertainment chair. "We are playing more toward the students by bringing back some of their favorite groups."
In addition to other athletes, the No. 1 Penn State ACHA Div. I Icers will be returning from a road trip to make an appearance Sunday morning.
"We normally get in the athlete pep rally, and we've had a great time the past few years doing that, but this year, our schedule keeps us away during athlete hour," Icers Captain Bill Downey said. "We figure our team's humor might help the dancers through the night, especially since Sunday morning is such a grueling time. Hopefully, we can brighten up their morning."
Sepassi also said Steve Meinke from MTV's Road Rules 10: The Quest will be making an appearance sometime during the weekend.
Public Relations chair Fehran Frank said there will be a film crew from NBC's Today Show filming throughout the weekend -- minus hosts Katie Couric and Matt Lauer -- for a segment that will air sometime next week.
Though the activities are primarily focused on the dancers, Frank said Thon is open to everyone.
"The bleachers will be open all 48 hours, and we encourage people to come and cheer on the dancers," she said.
She added there will be a special first-time appearance by a "surprise guest" early Saturday.
Other activities available to help the dancers pass the 48 hours include an eight-team color war, in which dancers and moralers compete in about 15 events to win prizes for The Four Diamonds Fund's children, and an early Sunday morning mail call, in which dancers receive motivating mail from friends and family.
Pre-Thon activities begin at 6:30 tonight at Rec Hall, featuring performances from the Whiplash dance team; NOMMO, an African dance troupe; and Groove Phi Groove.
There will also be two student-produced videos shown to help start off the weekend, Sepassi said.
"The first video, lasting about seven minutes, will include a collection of inspirational and funny scenes from movies and from previous Thon years," Sepassi said.
The second video will be a more traditional two minute pre-Thon video, done in a style very familiar to most Penn State students, he said, adding that anyone who has been to a Nittany Lions football game would recognize the format.
Though most organizations have stopped raising money, donations will be accepted throughout the weekend. Last year, Thon raised $3,600,793.18.
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