Carolann Livingstone receives her associate in arts degree yesterday from the Community College of Rhode Island.

The Providence Journal Glenn Osmundson

PROVIDENCE –– More than 15,000 college students in Rhode Island are expected to make the slow march across the stage to accept their diplomas this weekend, in the annual mid-May graduationpalooza that is again expected to fill local restaurants and hotels with celebrating students and their families.

At the Dunkin’ Donuts Center yesterday, Kathy Kavanagh, director of special events and catering for Johnson & Wales University, oversaw the final details of the building’s transformation from hosting hockey to honoring higher ed.

The J&W commencement today, in two separate ceremonies, is one of nine college graduation exercises in Rhode Island scheduled for this weekend. Johnson & Wales graduates 4,872 students today in double-barreled proceedings, with hospitality and culinary students graduating in the morning and business and technical students graduating in the afternoon.

Students from Roger Williams University, Bryant University and Rhode Island College also graduate today, as do graduate students from the University of Rhode Island. Tomorrow, Providence College and Salve Regina University hold commencements, and URI awards diplomas to its undergraduates.

Brown University’s graduation is set for next weekend. The Rhode Island School of Design holds commencement on May 31. And yesterday, Roger Williams University law school and the Community College of Rhode Island held graduation ceremonies.

Kavanagh started planning the J&W commencement ceremony a year ago –– on the Monday after graduation 2007.

She is keenly aware that college graduation is one of the biggest events in anyone’s life. The memories the students take away from the ceremony are in Kavanagh’s hands. “For the students, this is the culmination of two, four or six years of study,” she said. “I’m getting emotional talking about it. I just want it to go well for them.”

RESTAURATEURS are also eager for the weekend to go well. They’re hoping the surge of thousands of visitors into Rhode Island for graduation exercises will provide a bump to what some say has been a soft business season so far.

“Even though the economy is bad, this is such a special weekend that people don’t seem to be cutting back,” said Dale Venturini, president of the Rhode Island Hospitality and Tourism Association.

Jeffrey Carroll, executive chef at Napa Valley Grille in Providence, a short walk from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, said graduation should produce an all-weekend uptick in business.

“This weekend is one of the biggest weekends of the year for us,” he said. “It’s always successful, Friday through Sunday.”

Napa Valley Grille could serve 400 to 500 people for lunch today, and then another 400 for dinner after the second J&W commencement ceremony.

And knowing that he’ll have a restaurant packed with new culinary school graduates, Carroll will use commencement weekend “as a recruitment tool,” he said; it’s a chance to meet young chefs who may be interested in a job someday.

Deborah Norman’s Rue De L’Espoir restaurant on Providence’s East Side typically sees an increase in business of maybe 10 percent on this graduation weekend.

She expects to benefit even more from the Brown University commencement next weekend. “The granddaddy of them all is Brown,” she said. “It increases our business by 20 to 30 percent over a normal weekend.”

To prepare for the wave of business around college graduations, she will add wait staff, buy more food, order more alcohol and rent more linen. “We increase everything.

“It’s been a very soft season, and I think [restaurant proprietors] are all looking forward to this weekend,” she said. Fears about the economy might have people cutting back on restaurant meals, but graduation weekend “is the one place you can splurge,” she said. “For a lot of people, they’re probably just happy to not be paying that tuition bill anymore.”

Chuck Borkoski, a vice president at beer distributor McLaughlin & Moran, said graduation time “is a very good week for us, year to year.” In addition to commencement celebrations, people are stocking up on suds in advance of Memorial Day, the three-day weekend of family barbecues that mark the unofficial start of summer, he said.

Back at the Dunk yesterday, Kavanagh nailed down the final details of the chair arrangement with William DeSantis, production manager for the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Kavanagh will take tomorrow off. “I’ll start planning for next year on Monday,” she said.

GRADUATIONS TODAY

Johnson & Wales University, Dunkin’ Donuts Center

 Culinary & Hospitality, 8:45 a.m.

 Business & Technology, 2:45 p.m.

Rhode Island College, 9:30 a.m., campus

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Bryant University, 10 a.m., on campus

Roger Williams University, 10 a.m., main athletic field

University of Rhode Island Graduate School, 1 p.m., Ryan Center

GRADUATIONS TOMORROW

Salve Regina University, 10 a.m., McAuley Hall lawn

Providence College, 11 a.m., Dunkin’ Donuts Center

University of Rhode Island, 12:30 p.m., URI

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marsenau@projo.com