According to Weinberg freshman Dave Gupta, the legend is true: they do improve the cafeteria food when the parents arrive.

Northwestern’s Family Weekend offered students, especially freshmen, an opportunity to re-establish ties with the people who have footed the bill for the past month of Chicago trips, parties and higher education.

“I got lectured this weekend on how I need to get my grades up, get more sleep and improve my study habits, and it’s only four weeks into the quarter,” Gupta said.

The Evanston economy experienced a boost as parents restocked their student’s depleted pantries and refrigerators. Some students are just now anticipating the looming, frigid, Chicago winter, and refurbished their cold-weather wardrobes with parental funding.

Evanston’s Holiday Inn and Omni Orrington hotels were almost completely booked after hosting fewer guests after experiencing a lag in business since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Most parents and students explored Evanston’s and Chicago’s cuisine options, increasing typical Friday and Saturday night business at restaurants such as Dave’s Italian Kitchen, Gino’s East and the Davis Street Fish Market.

“I ate a lot of dorm food so I could appreciate the fine food Chicago and Evanston have to offer,” Weinberg freshman Anna Dupont said on her preparation for Family Weekend.

Dupont’s parents flew in from New York and Nashville to visit their daughter and catch NU’s football foibles. Although it could not live up to last year’s ESPN Instant Classic against Michigan, the game against Penn State was the main attraction of the weekend’s activities.

Weinberg freshman Chris Griffin watched the game with friends from his dorm and joined his family that night for dinner, but said he realized in the past month the new responsibilities facing him and the importance of being independent.

“I did look forward to them coming, but I’m glad they’re not living next door,” Griffin said.

NU’s campus was bustling with activities Saturday night, including a jazz concert, an appearance by Margaret Thatcher, a multicultural performance festival and the Best of the Midwest a cappella show.

Anne Stephens and her daughter, Elizabeth, attended the Thatcher speech and afterward talked seriously about their political views for the first time, they said. For the Weinberg freshman, Family Weekend was a chance to draw her mom into her new life, including taking her to a favorite bench on the Lakefill where she goes to escape the stresses of college life.

“For a month now, I’ve been really excited about what I’m doing, but there’s only so much you can explain over the phone,” Elizabeth Stephens said.

Clay and Ronna Spitz graduated from the School of Speech in 1977 but hadn’t returned to NU in 15 years until their son Jason, a Speech freshman, began looking at colleges last fall.

At the a cappella show, Jason Spitz, who recently joined the group Freshman Fifteen, and his family shared an experience that helped tie Family Weekend together.

“It’s nice to come see him in his own environment, to see things from his point of view,” Ronna Spitz said.

Gupta went out to dinner, restocked his food supply, and attended the multicultural festival Planet NU with his parents. He had just been home two weeks ago and said Family Weekend wasn’t very emotional, but his parents still acted as if it had been “two years” since they last saw him.

“I felt they were handling my absence from home very well,” Gupta said. “I was very proud of them.”