Streets, parking lots, classrooms and hallways are packed, but school has yet to start at Brigham Young University.
So where is everyone coming from? The answer is the Church Education System's Campus Education Week, which has attracted more than 26,000 people to Provo for four days of intense education and traffic congestion.Before classes started Tuesday, 26,000 people had enrolled, said E. Mack Palmer, director of the LDS Church's CES programming. That number will rise as people who did not register in advance decide to enroll for one or two days of classes.
Last year's total enrollment was 35,470. That's more than the number of full-time students at BYU. Palmer said the Education Week number is somewhat deceiving, however, because those who enroll on a day-to-day basis instead of for the entire week are counted for each day enrolled.
Regardless, a lot of people are in Provo, and particularly on the BYU campus.
The on-campus housing office reported 3,800 people living in campus facilities for the week.
And most of the people on campus seem to need to buy things and to eat.
Roger Utley, director of the BYU Bookstore, said Education Week, along with other CES programs and the start of school, makes August one of only four profitmaking months at the bookstore.
Most Education Week people are serviced by a temporary bookstore annex in the Ernest L. Wilkinson Center, Utley said.
Utley said the bookstore hires more people in August to deal with Education Week, other CES programs and the start of school. The number of full-time-equivalent workers rises from 250 at the first of August to approximately 290. Total workers, including part-time and on-call workers, is near 400.
"We sell as much fudge in Education Week as we sell in the month of December," said Carol Barber, a buyer for the Twilight Zone. The woman who makes the homemade fudge works 30 extra hours the week before Education Week.
"It's a hard time of year," said Sam Brooks, director of Food Services at BYU. The hardest part is training new employees, he said.
Last year 152,673 meals were served in the Wilkinson Center cafeterias during Education Week. That compares with 80,000 served during a typical week, said Craig Schow, assistant director of admininstrative service.
Food Services also is responsible for about 12 tents set up outside and around campus to alleviate Wilkinson Center traffic and congestion.
"It's a lot of extra work, it's hard work," Brooks said.