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As the sun set Tuesday, incoming freshmen, transfer students and international students gathered beneath the Tower to enjoy the 10th annual Gone to Texas event, welcoming new students and kicking off the 2006-2007 school year.

In addition to musical performances and speeches by UT administrators and head football coach Mack Brown, an estimated 4,000 burnt-orange Gone to Texas T-shirts were distributed, at a cost approaching $10,000, said Douglas Bolin, the artistic director for the Office of Relationship Management and University Events.

Bolin said the T-shirts were especially popular this year, because they were burnt-orange instead of the usual white, in commemoration of the football team's 2006 national championship.

Putting together Gone to Texas was no small task. In addition to costing the University a substantial $19,000, which is donated by the University Co-op, hundreds of staff and custodial personnel stayed as late as 2 a.m. Tuesday preparing for the celebration, Bolin said.

The production team for the event, which included vendors, the UT Police Department and Facilities Services, began meeting three months ago to plan for the thousands of students who attend, he said.

Equally as impressive as the setup is the cleanup, given that by this morning the South Mall will look as if nothing had happened, Bolin said. Despite the large amount of work required for Gone to Texas, Bolin said the staff was positive, and it's fun to plan an event that encompasses the entire campus.

When pioneers embarked from the east coast to Texas longer than a century ago, they would write "Gone to Texas" on the doors of the homes they left behind, giving UT's annual event its name, said UT spokesman Robert Meckel. Gone to Texas was preceded by smaller events organized by each college, Bolin said. Today, the individual colleges still have activities for their students, but now as a prelude to the main event. Gone to Texas is one of the few times when an entire class meets together, until graduation.

As Mauro Escobedo, a microbiology transfer student from El Paso, said Gone to Texas made him feel welcome at UT. He said he transferred to UT because of the school's better academics.

Bolin said the number of students who stay at UT all four years has increased since Gone to Texas began 10 years ago. The event is more than just a welcome, it stands for one of the biggest events of a person's life, the transition from high school to college, Meckel said.

The event was kicked off by President Emeritus Peter Flawn and former president Robert Berdahl and included a multitude of performances. Students were serenaded by the bombastic tunes of disc jockeys Alex Nguyen, Student Government's external financial director, and Ray Ho, an electrical engineering junior. Groups such as the Pot Heads, a dance group whose style emulates that of the award winning musical "Stomp;" HUM A Capella, winner of the 2005 Best Artistic Performance Award during the Texas Revue; Ransom Notes, a group that creates a percussion ensemble with no instruments except their voices; the South Asian dance ensemble Nritya Sangham; and the Ballet Folklorico, which performs traditional dances of Mexico.

Although the rain did cause many students to leave the event, a festive spirit electrified the air. The event began and ended in reminiscence of the national championship victory - with a shower of confetti over the crowd and a pep-talk by head football coach Mack Brown.