From Marisa Ricciardi:

March Madness tipped-off today at the New York Stock Exchange’s Experience Square. CBS sports analysts Greg Anthony, Seth Davis, and Bill Raftery shot hoops and provided fun giveaways to the NYSE community in anticipation of the upcoming 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament. The Bell Podium sported qualifying team pennants, as Steve Herbst, Executive Vice President of CBS College Sports, rang the Opening Bell. The day rallied high spirits in anticipation for what is sure to be an intense road to the Final Four.

Among bell ringers, Shaun White represents the gold standard.

From some of my colleagues in Media Relations:

Today’s blustery weather rings in a timely close to an eventful week in New York.

It started the end of last week: the Opening Bell with 2010 Westminster’s Best in Show Winner of the 134th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, Scottish Terrier Sadie– a four-legged friend who won the hearts of many traders on the floor of the NYSE. Fast forward to Monday’s Closing Bell with SPORTS ILLUSTRATED swimsuit models, bringing some much needed warmth to a cold, wintery week here in New York.

Tuesday morning, the NYSE community woke up to the aroma of hot off the griddle pancakes, compliments of NYSE-listed IHOP, which rang Tuesday’s Opening Bell to celebrate “National Pancake Day.”

After pancakes, the attention shifted to Wednesday’s Closing Bell that set the “gold standard” with Olympic medalist Shaun White generating quite the buzz around here. But just when we thought we’d run the gamut, the adorable and well-known Aflac white duck celebrated his 10th birthday at the NYSE, “quacking” Thursday’s Closing Bell — truly making a splash!

C’mon, you wore a hat like that when you turned 10 too!

From Marisa Ricciardi: As anticipation was mounting for Super Bowl Sunday, the game was on outside the NYSE. Ritz Crackers (NYSE:KFT) hosted a tailgating party on Experience Square filled with fun games, giveaways and some of Kraft’s delicious football recipes. The NYSE “players” showed their team spirit by wearing their favorite NFL jersey to work. Everyone left the festivities a winner. I’m sure the Saints and Colts are hoping for the same outcome.

NYSE kicks off Super Bowl weekend

NYSE traders toss their jackets for their favorite NFL team jerseys

NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer plays QB on Broad St.

From Marisa Ricciardi:

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (NYSE: DPS) celebrated their 125th anniversary at the NYSE on Monday, Jan. 25 to ring the Closing Bell. To commemorate the occasion, Dr Pepper CEO, Larry Young was joined by Gene “Dr. Love” Simmons who stars in the current Dr Pepper Cherry commercial and his KISS bandmates on the bell podium. Moments later, David Naughton from the classic “I’m a Pepper, you’re a Pepper” commercial along with 40 dancers in traders jackets recreated the catchy jingle on the Trading Floor. Everyone left wanting to be a Pepper too.

To view the jingle performance, click the video above. To view the Closing Bell, click here. And pictured below, KISS works the interview circuit with Nicole Petallides of Fox Business News, and show off their product-placement skills.

From Marisa Ricciardi:

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Star Wars enthusiasts joined forces to promote their legendary StarWars brand and product lines, including Hasbro’s (NYSE: HAS) Star Wars action figures and play-sets. Characters from “A Galaxy, Far, Far, Away” landed on the Trading Floor, mesmerizing traders with their cinema-accurate re-creations of beloved Star Wars characters, before ringing The Opening Bell this morning. Now all we need is a visit from Harrison Ford and my year is complete.

To view the FOX Business video, click here.

To view The Huffington Post article, click here.

From Marisa Ricciardi:

Broad Street was blanketed on Thursday afternoon with NYSE employees and downtown visitors enjoying the sights and sounds of the NYSE 86th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Guests were treated to live performances by Billy Ray Cyrus, The Manhattan Transfer, Collective Soul, Stryper, Honor Society, David Nail, Joshua Bell, Kate Voegele, Tamela Mann, The Monsignor Donovan Choir and the cast of Broadway’s “Rock of Ages” with Twisted Sister. Special appearances were made by Valerie Smaldone, “Dancing With the Stars” winner Kym Johnson, and the New York Jets Flight Crew.

If that was not enough of a rush, Conagra’s (NYSE:CAG) Hebrew National Hot Dogs and Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate, Capital Grille’s (NYSE:DRI) warm hot apple cider and biscottis and Tiffany’s (NYSE:TIF) blue and white cookies sure did the trick. Santa Claus could not find a naughty one in the bunch.

From Marisa Ricciardi:

AOL (NYSE: AOL) celebrated last Wednesday at the NYSE on the eve of their spin-off from Time Warner with the likes of Harry Connick, Jr., Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and special guest Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. Here are some pictures of the celebration, from Business Insider.

The evening was overflowing with energy as hundreds of guests were welcomed onto the hot pink carpet leading to the Trading Floor surrounded by AOL’s new branding. The festivities culminated the next morning with Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong joined on the podium by executives ringing the Opening Bell to mark their first day of regular way trading. Welcome back, AOL — we’ve missed you!

Watch the latest business video at FOXBusiness.com

From Marisa Ricciardi and Ray Pellecchia: Bringing together entrepreneurs, digital media executives, and journalists who cover the industry, Founders Club New York took this year’s holiday party “public” at the NYSE earlier this week.

NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer hosted the event on the evolving NYSE Trading Floor. He was joined by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Alexis Glick of FOX Business, who moderated a discussion between the two on small business and government regulation. For a clip of part of that conversation, click on the image embedded above.

Here are a few key takeways from the interview:

From Mayor Bloomberg:

• Government must recognize it cannot have it both ways: it cannot expect to have vigorous lending, job creation and investment if it adopts policies that discourage these essential elements of growth.

• Great innovations and advances often come in economic downturns. Although capital is harder to come by in such times, other resources are more plentiful and less expensive, including labor, space and materials. Even such great works as Central Park and the Empire State building were born in such times.

• Entrepreneurs succeed by making investments at the low end of the cycle.

From Duncan:

• Initial public offerings are coming back. This month should be the most active December for IPOs in recent memory.

• Early this year, many of the IPOs that listed on NYSE were the kinds of companies that might have been Founders Club members not long ago: great ideas that became successful businesses and then reached out to the capital markets to continue growing. Such companies include Rosetta Stone, Digital Globe, Solar Wind and Bridgepoint Education.

• More recently, many of our IPOs have hailed from Brazil and the tech sector, as well as major names such as Dole, Hyatt and Dollar General.

For a photo slide show of the event, click here.

From Marisa Ricciardi: Beware! The Marvel Superheroes (NYSE:MVL) invaded the NYSE early this morning for the Annual Kids’ Day Holiday Party. The employees and their children had a blast as they were treated to all types of entertainment from magic to face painting to arts and crafts. A few of the lucky ones even got the chance to ring the Opening and Closing Bells accompanied on the podium by Captain America and The Hulk. Guests also had the opportunity to preview Marvel’s new Superhero Squad Show as they snacked on delicious treats. And if that wasn’t enough, each child left with a bag filled with plenty of toys and games to last them way past the holiday season.

“Movers & Changers” judges and finalists ring the Opening Bell.

Mentoring Madness takes over the Trading Floor.

Snoop Dogg and Maria Bartiromo share a moment on stage.

From Marisa Ricciardi: NYSE Euronext kicked-off Global Entrepreneurship Week with the second annual “Mentoring Madness” event on Monday, Nov. 16. CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo hosted this two hour event featuring conversations with the four judges from the “Movers & Changers” competition - TOM’S Shoes Founder Blake Mycoskie, BR Guest Restaurant Group Founder and President Stephen Hanson, Rapper Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus, and Starwood Capital Group Chairman and CEO Barry Sternlicht. The judges and competition finalists also rang the Opening Bell to jump-start the day’s events.

In front of an audience of college students, the business leaders offered valuable insight into how they launched their companies and brands. While their individual stories differed, reoccurring themes quickly emerged such as following your passion, working hard, staying grounded and not being afraid to fail.

MTV (NYSE:VIA) and NYSE Euronext co-sponsored “Movers & Changers” to challenge young people to effect social change. Winners Nic Lagettta, Shea Shelton and Jay Zhao of Tulane University’s team, WET Tea won the ultimate prize of $25,000 in start-up funds with the idea to sell high-quality tea to support the Gulf Coast Wetlands. The judges were so inspired with what the students presented that they spontaneously decided to kick in $15,000 of their own money to be awarded to the two runner-ups in addition to the $5,000 already awarded to pursue their business ideas.

As a sponsor of Global Entrepreneurship Week, we are proud to support these programs and would like to thank all students who submitted entries in the “Movers & Changers” challenge. We invite you to pass along the “Mentoring Madness” web-cast to any budding entrepreneurs you may know and encourage them to attend next year’s events. Together, we can continue promoting innovative thinking and inspire the entrepreneurial leaders of tomorrow.