Senior Bridget Snell enters a gift-card drawing at retailer Alumni Hall’s booth as the company’s Heather Allen and Kelli Mariner look on at the “Meet Murfreesboro” community welcome event Aug. 29 in the KUC Courtyard. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

It’s a quick sample of and an introduction to Murfreesboro.

Several thousand MTSU students — many of them freshmen — received a taste of the city Aug. 28-29 during “Meet Murfreesboro,” part of Week of Welcome activities. New Student and Family Programs sponsors the event, which features more than 50 area businesses.

Local restaurants, doctors’ offices, banks and credit unions, churches, nonprofit agencies, apartment complexes and others staff tables under two tents in the Keathley University Center Courtyard.

They shared information — and sometimes food and other goodies — about the services they offer to the university’s 26,000-plus students.

Chelsea Ross of Murfreesboro and Rachel Shaughnessy of Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., roommates and MTSU freshman volleyball team members, were among those meeting Murfreesboro.

MTSU senior Adam Yarber puts cheese sauce on nacho chips during the first day of “Meet Murfreesboro” on Aug. 28. (MTSU photo by News and Media Relations)

“I like it. You get to see everything,” said Ross, who said she discovered new things even though Murfreesboro is her hometown. “I live on the other side of town. There are still businesses I haven’t seen here, and a lot of restaurants, too.”

Shaughnessy’s favorites were “the free stuff and getting coupons. I’ll probably go there (to the participating businesses). The (Aspen Leaf) yogurt was really good.”

Senior Adam Yarber has spent the last three years attending Meet Murfreesboro, both as a student and an employee of The Woods at Greenland and Raiders Crossing apartment complexes.

“This is great,” Yarber said. “It gives students the opportunity to see what Murfreesboro has to offer, from food to vendors, churches and organizations around town. They will see Murfreesboro is not boring. There are a lot of places to eat and get involved and volunteer.”

Students and local businesses mingle at Meet Murfreesboro 2012 on the KUC lawn. (MTSU photo by J. Intintoli)

Liz Waller, a marketing representative for the first-year Sam’s Sports Grill at the Stones River Mall, said student interest in their booth was “amazing” — perhaps due to the samples of nachos and cheese.

“We want to come and touch every one of these students and let them know they can come to Sam’s and have a great meal,” Waller said.

Freshman Timesha Cash of Memphis also enjoyed her Meet Murfreesboro experience. “People seem nice and welcoming,” said Cash, who said she is trying to decide between a nursing and biology major.

After buying a shirt, she said she was “impressed by the free giveaways and getting to meet different people.”

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)