# Rollins College Family Weekend, November 6 to 8, 2026: two buildings to photograph on campus and in Winter Park > Rollins College Family Weekend, November 6 to 8, 2026: the campus wall by Lake Virginia that lines up with the sunrise, a Winter Park wall in low evening sun, how they fit the published schedule, and where to stand for the family picture. This is the Markdown form of https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-rollins-family-weekend-2026, with the same words as the page. Part of [Family Weekends 2026](https://hengedays.com/articles/family-weekends-2026), school 26 of 26. Previous school: [Princeton University](https://hengedays.com/articles/buildings-to-photograph-princeton-family-weekend-2026). *The Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center, the first building in the list, in Henge Days. Pink marks the wall the sun lines up with on Family Weekend mornings.* For November 6 to 8, 2026. Family Weekend at Rollins College runs from Friday, November 6, to Sunday, November 8, 2026. One building on the campus has a wall that faces the rising sun on those mornings with a clear view: the Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center, by the shore of Lake Virginia. In Winter Park, one more wall gets the evening sun 6 to 10 degrees up. Post your pictures with #HengeDays. In this article - [The weekend's schedule](#the-weekend-s-schedule) - [Part 1: the campus](#part-1-the-campus) - [Part 2: Winter Park](#part-2-winter-park) - [Low sun](#low-sun) - [How the list was made](#how-the-list-was-made) - [How to read each entry](#how-to-read-each-entry) Every time in this guide is US Eastern Standard Time (EST). Daylight saving time ends on November 1, so the clocks have already changed by Family Weekend. This weekend the sun is on the horizon at about 109 degrees in the morning and 251 degrees in the evening. Most walls on the campus and in Winter Park face other directions, so the list is short. ### The weekend's schedule The events below are the ones that search results summarizing the Rollins Family Weekend schedule page listed on October 17. The Rollins pages did not load from where this guide was written. Those results list events for Friday and one for Saturday, and none for Sunday. The College's FAQ says programs may be added to the schedule. Check times and places at [the Family Weekend schedule page](https://www.rollins.edu/parents-families/family-weekend/schedule/) before you plan around them. - Friday, November 6, 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM: check-in, registration and the information center in the lobby of Bush Auditorium, in the Bush Science Center. Before it, the east side of the Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center lines up with the sunrise at 6:48 AM EST. It is about 250 m east of the Bush Science Center. - Friday, November 6, 1:00 to 1:50 PM: a show by the Rollins Improv Players in Bush Auditorium. From 2:00 to 2:45 PM, a graduate school information session in the same room, with staff from the Crummer Graduate School of Business and the Hamilton Holt School. - Friday, November 6, 7:00 PM: Family Shabbat, hosted by Rollins Hillel in the Galloway Room (Room 300) of Kathleen W. Rollins Hall. No wall lines up with the evening sun on Friday with a clear view. The hours between events are free for Park Avenue and Central Park, in Part 2. - Saturday, November 7, 9:00 AM to noon: late check-in and packet pickup at Tars Plaza. Before it, the Alfond Sports Center at 6:46 AM EST, the family photo spot below. In the afternoon, the parking garage on Canton Avenue gets the sun 9.8 degrees up at 4:44 PM EST, in the Low sun section. - Sunday, November 8: the search results list no events. The Alfond Sports Center lines up at 6:44 AM EST, with the sun 0.1 degrees up, low enough that a house toward the sun may hold it back. The Canton Avenue garage gets the sun 9.2 degrees up at 4:46 PM EST. - All weekend: a self-guided Mister Rogers walking tour. ### Part 1: the campus The campus runs south from Fairbanks Avenue to the shore of Lake Virginia. The one campus wall in this guide is on the east side, where the Alfond Sports Center faces the lake. #### 1 Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida Wall east-southeast, facing 109° Sun The rising sun lines up with this wall on Nov 6 to 8. Best: Saturday, November 7 at 6:46 AM, 0.6° above the horizon. Leaves Central Florida has little fall color. The live oaks on the campus keep their leaves through November. Where to stand The wall is the building's east side, 76 m in five sections, facing 109 degrees toward Lake Virginia. Stand on the campus walks east-southeast of the wall, between the building and the lake, with the sun behind you, and stay off any service drive. The sun lines up with the wall at the horizon: 6:48 AM EST on Friday, 6:46 AM on Saturday and 6:44 AM on Sunday, 1.1, 0.6 and 0.1 degrees up. A house toward the sun has no height in OpenStreetMap. With an estimated height its roofline is at 0.5 degrees, below the sun on Friday and Saturday and 0.4 degrees above it on Sunday, so on Sunday the house may block the sun at the head-on moment. The sun reaches 19 m of the 76 m. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. The College's arena, on the east side of the campus by the shore of Lake Virginia. It opened on December 6, 2000, with a men's basketball game against the University of North Florida ([Rollins Athletics](https://rollinssports.com/sports/2020/4/28/information-departments-athletic-facilities-harold-ted-sports-center-index.aspx), [NCAA News](https://s3.amazonaws.com/ncaanewsarchive/2001/Division-II/notes---1-1-01.html)). Its main court, Warden Arena, seats 2,500. The College archives put its cost at $11.3 million ([Olin Library archives](https://lib.rollins.edu/olin/Archives/Architecture/Arch/harold_and_ted_alfond_sports_cen.htm)). *The building page in Henge Days. The highlighted walls face 109°, toward the sunrise on the days in the row below; every wall carries its bearing.* - **Fri, Nov 6 to Sun, Nov 8, 2026**3 mornings · best Sun, Nov 8 **6:44 AM** Henge sunrise, sun on the horizon ESE 109° wall Its row in the Henge days list, with the time of the head-on moment on the best day. Save keeps that day in your planner, which can send it to your calendar app. Saving asks you to sign in with an email link; there is no password. *The year for every wall of the building. Each row is a wall; the colored runs are its henge, golden and low-sun days.* [Open this wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/at/28.59319,-81.34650?q=Harold+and+Ted+Alfond+Sports+Center%2C+Winter+Park%2C+FL&b=osm%2Fway%2F538094861&facade=19&d=2026-11-06) Family photo spot. Stand the family on the campus walks a few steps out from the east side of the Alfond Sports Center, turned partway toward the camera. The photographer stands east-southeast of them, toward the lake, with the sun low behind and to one side, which lights faces and the wall behind them in the same warm light. Go on Saturday at 6:46 AM EST, more than two hours before late check-in opens at Tars Plaza. Friday at 6:48 AM EST works too, before check-in at the Bush Science Center. Post it with #HengeDays. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position, and not checked on the ground. ### Part 2: Winter Park No wall in Winter Park passes every check for sunrise or golden light this weekend. Park Avenue and the streets around it run north to south and east to west, so their walls face about 90 and 270 degrees, away from the low sun at 109 and 251 degrees. The town is still the place to spend the hours between events. Park Avenue and Central Park are about 600 m north of the Alfond Sports Center. Shops and restaurants along Park Avenue face Central Park. The Winter Park station, where SunRail and Amtrak trains stop, is on the park's west side at 148 West Morse Boulevard. The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art is at 445 North Park Avenue. West of the tracks, Hannibal Square and New England Avenue have more restaurants. The Winter Park Library and Events Center is at 1052 West Morse Boulevard, about 1.2 km west of Park Avenue. Check hours before you go. The Rollins Museum of Art is building a three-story home on the block of New England, Interlachen, Lyman and Knowles avenues, near the Alfond Inn. Ground was broken in November 2025 ([Rollins Museum of Art blog](https://blogs.rollins.edu/rma/2025/11/04/rollins-museum-of-art-breaks-ground-for-new-facility/)), and the museum's site gives the opening as 2028 ([Rollins Museum of Art](https://www.rollins.edu/rma/index.html)). Through Family Weekend the block is under construction. The Alfond Inn shows works from the museum's collection. Lake Osceola, northeast of Park Avenue, is lined with homes, so no wall there is in this guide. ### Low sun This wall passes the check for other buildings with the sun 6 to 10 degrees up at the head-on moment. That is higher than golden light, and the light is still warm and falls square on the wall. The name opens the wall in Henge Days. - [Parking garage on Canton Avenue](https://hengedays.com/at/28.60015,-81.35179?q=28.60015%2C-81.35179&b=osm%2Fway%2F572055149&facade=1&d=2026-10-29), a five-level garage on the south side of Canton Avenue, between Park Avenue and the railroad tracks, near the Morse Museum: its west-southwest side, 38 m, faces 245 degrees across the tracks. It gets the sun 6 to 10 degrees up at its moment: 4:44 PM EST on Saturday and 4:46 PM on Sunday, 9.8 and 9.2 degrees up. The whole 38 m is lit. A building toward the sun has no height in OpenStreetMap, and with an estimated height its roofline is at 1.5 degrees, below the sun on both days. Stand on the sidewalk along New York Avenue, west of the tracks, and stay off the tracks and the road. Computed from the building outline and the sun's position for a level horizon, and not checked on the ground. ### How the list was made Henge Days computed every named building with a wall of 8 m or more, and every unnamed building with a wall of 20 m or more, within 400 to 500 meters of 14 points. On the campus: Mills Lawn, Knowles Memorial Chapel and the Annie Russell Theatre, Olin Library and the Holt Avenue halls, the Bush Science Center, the Lake Virginia shore with the boathouse and the Rollins Museum of Art, the Alfond Inn and the new museum site, and the east side of the campus. In town: Park Avenue and Central Park, the Winter Park station, Hannibal Square and New England Avenue, the Morse Museum and North Park Avenue, the Winter Park Library and Events Center, Lake Osceola and Winter Park Village. It used OpenStreetMap outlines. It kept walls where the sun lines up with the wall within 10 degrees of the horizon on at least one day from Friday, November 6, to Sunday, November 8. It then traced the sun's path from each wall and dropped the walls where a neighboring building stands higher than the sun. For each wall kept, a second search 400 m out along the sun's path checked for a building beyond the first search. That check found the house whose estimated roofline reaches Sunday's sun at the Alfond Sports Center. Three days is a short window. Knowles Memorial Chapel, the Annie Russell Theatre, Olin Library, the Bush Science Center, the Rollins Museum of Art, the Alfond Inn, the Holt Avenue residence halls, the Morse Museum and the Winter Park Library have no wall the sun lines up with under 10 degrees on these days. Barker House on the campus lines up with the evening sun 6 to 10 degrees up, but taller buildings stand toward the sun at that moment. Other walls that line up near Olin Library, the Winter Park Library and Winter Park Village have taller buildings toward the sun at their moment. Some walls that line up are left out by the rules for where to stand. The University Club of Winter Park, at 841 North Park Avenue ([Winter Park Chamber of Commerce](https://business.winterpark.org/list/category/civic-clubs-organizations-5005646?o=alpha)), has an east-southeast wall of 42 m in golden light on all three mornings with a clear view. It is a private club, so it is left out. An unnamed building at 440 Fairfax Avenue, in the Virginia Heights neighborhood south of the campus, has a west-southwest wall in golden light on all three evenings. It stands on a residential street, so it is left out as a likely home. Two unnamed buildings on residential streets, one on Lincoln Circle near Lake Osceola and one on Lake Front Boulevard near Winter Park Village, line up with the sun 6 to 10 degrees up. The map shows homes around them, and neither is in the list. That leaves one pick and one low-sun wall. Hills and trees are not part of that check, and the times assume a level horizon. Winter Park is flat. The Alfond Sports Center faces Lake Virginia, so the view toward the sunrise is open water, though trees on the far shore can hold back the sun for the first minutes. Every date and time comes from the Henge Days engine, for the building outlines in OpenStreetMap. ### How to read each entry Each entry shows the building as Henge Days shows it. The map marks the building's outline from OpenStreetMap, gives every wall its compass bearing, and highlights the wall that lines up with the sun. Below it are the wall's row from the building's Henge days list, with a Save button that keeps the best day in your planner, and a year of head-on days for every wall. Any building has a page like the one above, your student's hall included. Whatever you shoot, post it with #HengeDays. [Find a wall in Henge Days](https://hengedays.com/) [Open your planner](https://hengedays.com/planner) ### Sources - [Rollins College: Family Weekend 2026 schedule](https://www.rollins.edu/parents-families/family-weekend/schedule/) - [Rollins College: Family Weekend frequently asked questions](https://rollins.edu/parents-families/family-weekend/frequently-asked-questions/) - [Rollins Athletics: Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center](https://rollinssports.com/sports/2020/4/28/information-departments-athletic-facilities-harold-ted-sports-center-index.aspx) - [NCAA News: Division II notes, January 2001](https://s3.amazonaws.com/ncaanewsarchive/2001/Division-II/notes---1-1-01.html) - [Olin Library archives: Harold and Ted Alfond Sports Center](https://lib.rollins.edu/olin/Archives/Architecture/Arch/harold_and_ted_alfond_sports_cen.htm) - [Rollins Museum of Art: groundbreaking for the new facility, November 4, 2025](https://blogs.rollins.edu/rma/2025/11/04/rollins-museum-of-art-breaks-ground-for-new-facility/) - [Rollins Museum of Art](https://www.rollins.edu/rma/index.html) - [Winter Park Chamber of Commerce: civic clubs and organizations](https://business.winterpark.org/list/category/civic-clubs-organizations-5005646?o=alpha) - [Building outlines: OpenStreetMap contributors](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) ### The newsletter Henge Days also has a newsletter. It covers what each release of the site adds and how to use it, and the buildings the #HengeDays community photographs in head-on light. [Read it on Substack](https://hengedays.substack.com/). The address goes to Substack, which sends the email and asks you to confirm. Henge Days does not keep it. --- Every date and time on Henge Days is computed from a building outline in OpenStreetMap and the position of the sun. Nobody has checked it on the ground. Hills, trees and other buildings can block a low sun. Treat each date as a plan to confirm before you travel. See https://hengedays.com/terms.md. Henge Days is free to use; sign in only to save days to a planner. Contact: hello@hengedays.com.