More than 1,200 moved into dorms Wednesday

By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046

CHAPEL HILL -- Does it feel like there's a bit more traffic on the roads these days?

Longer lines at restaurants and bigger crowds at the bar?

You're not imagining, it's real.

The reason?

UNC students have begun to make their annual trek to Chapel Hill.

"Business has picked up significantly since around midweek," said Jennifer Andersen, general manager of Spanky's Restaurant and Bar on East Franklin Street.

Adam Klein, vice president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, said the start of school is always a big lift for business in the downtown.

Earlier this week, Klein said he began to notice more students milling about.

"It was good to see restaurants busy with students getting lunch and catching up with old friends," Klein said.

UNC students have been drifting into town all week in preparation for the start of school Tuesday.

On Wednesday, more than 1,200 returning students moved into campus housing during what Rick Bradley, assistant director of housing and residential education, described as the "unofficial opening day" for returning students.

Freshman, nearly 4,000 of them, will move in today and Saturday, but students will continue to move in to student housing through Sunday. The class of 2013 is expected to include 3,127 North Carolina residents, which is the largest number ever for a freshman class.

Bradley said about 10,000 of the 28,500 students expected to enroll at UNC will live in housing owned or managed by the university.

To welcome its students, UNC has planned a full weekend of activities. Here are the highlights:

n The New Students and Family Dinner, sponsored by the UNC Division of Student Affairs and the UNC General Alumni Association (GAA), will be held at the Rams Head Dining Hall from 5-7 p.m., on Friday.

n On Saturday, the GAA will host its annual open house at George Watts Hill Alumni Center on Stadium Drive. Free cool drinks and ice cream will be served from 2-4 p.m.

n Other GAA welcome events, held at multiple locations, will include a relighting of the Morehead Patterson Bell Tower on South Road to signify the start of the school year at 8 p.m. Sunday

n Also on Sunday, from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., the university will hold its 13th annual Fallfest on South Road. The event will feature the Marching Tar Heels student band and presentations by the following UNC coaches, each with some of their players: Butch Davis, football; Sylvia Hatchell, women's basketball; Karen Shelton, field hockey and Jerod Haase, men's basketball assistant coach.

Chancellor Holden Thorp will emcee the opening of the event, which welcomes students to Carolina with dozens of games, two stages of entertainment by student groups, representatives of at least 250 student organizations, numerous university departments with information booths, games, inflatables, demonstrations by sports clubs and plenty of free food.