They came for the German-style pretzels—a popular (and going-gone) offering again this year at the Baderbraü Beer Garden on the main quad—but also for the art exhibits and open houses and lectures on everything from ancient Egyptian beekeeping to DNA-based nanorobots. For four days in June, thousands of alumni and their families returned to attend class dinners and after-parties and to visit old friends, and old selves. To reunite. To reconnect.

On Friday a capacity crowd packed Saieh Hall for Economics for a conversation with faculty Nobelists Lars Peter Hansen, James J. Heckman, and Robert E. Lucas Jr., AB’59, PhD’64. Others piled into a bus to UChicago’s Arts Incubator in Washington Park, where projects include artist residencies and an apprenticeship program.

There was an Architecture Foundation tour of newly sprouted campus buildings, and for alumni parents with prospective Maroons in tow, an admissions walking tour. On Saturday, the second annual Alumni Scav Hunt offered a (greatly abridged) chance for glory.

On Sunday, after brunches and a choral communion at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, the Chicago Ensemble, led by pianist Gerald Rizzer, AB’62, capped the weekend with a chamber music concert at International House and a champagne toast.