August brings sandal sales, back-to-school shopping, premature nostalgia for those warm July nights—and the start of another year of college traditions. We already brought you eight of the most infamous college traditions, but it turns out there are eight more equally legendary college customs. Wherever you’re headed this fall, it’s time to get excited for the best campus gatherings, parties, festivals, and troublemaking…
University of Colorado Boulder: 4/20
At Boulder, 4/20 is less of a tradition and more of a religion. On April 20th (4/20), over 10,000 students (and locals and out-of-towners…) gather in Norlin Quad to take a communal puff of marijuana at 4:20 pm. The reason for the celebration? We think it’s a three-way tie between protesting legalization, relaxing before finals, and getting some use out of the tie-dye shirts in the backs of closets. You have to admit, getting thousands of people to smoke pot at the same time and in the same location is impressive. Even for Colorado students.
Northwestern: Dilo Day
In the annual culmination of a month of spring ruckus-making, Northwestern’s Dilo Day turns a Saturday on the Chicago lakefront into a concert-turned-party worthy of national recognition. Short for Armadillo Day–don’t ask, I don’t understand the name either–the Dilo festivities include a concert lineup that has recently featured A-list headliners like Regina Spektor, Guster, Nelly, Ben Folds, and The Roots. Local bands, free food, and a “state school for a day” mentality send NU students off to their summer vacations (and by ‘vacations’ we mean internships) with a bang. And who said Northwestern was the boring Big 10?!
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Ohio University: Halloween
I know what you’re thinking. “Halloween is a holiday, not a college tradition.” Clearly you have never been to OU. Court Street—the infamous strip of bars, restaurants, and 24 hour parties—can barely contain the costumed masses; throughout the entire weekend (who are we kidding…week) leading up to October 31, almost every inch of communal space in Athens, Ohio is turned into a non-stop Halloween party. And let’s just put it this way: the costumes are only half of the reason you won’t be able to recognize your friends by the end of a night at OU.
Barnard College: Midnight Breakfast
At midnight on the eve of the first day of final exams every semester, Barnard College students (along with the rest of their Columbia classmates) pack LeFrak Gymnasium for a midnight breakfast of epic proportions. Barnard President Deborah Spar, deans, professors, administrators, and notable alumni serve the studying student body a (free) breakfast complete with fresh fruit, coffee, pancakes, eggs, doughnuts, and pastries. Oh, and author Anna Quindlen (class of ‘74) serves the bacon.
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University of Texas at Austin: Round Up
Attention future Longhorns: you are cordially invited to a Greek-sponsored week of pre-college debauchery. In order to lure prospys, or prospective students, onto campus (and engage in some half-Kosher pre-Rush recruiting), sororities and fraternities plan a weekend of festivities for their future brothers and sisters. Notoriously crazy, the weekend is the only recorded college tradition that happens in high school.
Reed College: Renn Fayre
Single-handedly responsible for making a Renaissance Fair (or Renn Fayre) bear some semblance of cool, Reed College students look forward to an end-of-year celebration fit for a vassal. Complete with a march from the library to the Registrar to celebrate the completion of senior theses, music, food, drinks, crafts, and, like any authentic Renaissance celebration… fireworks? …Renn Fayre is a college tradition worthy of praise. Huzzah.
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University of Georgia and University of Florida: World’s Largest Cocktail Party
Since 1933, the UGA vs. UF annual football game has been held in Jacksonville, Florida. And every year, thousands of tailgaters from both southern schools celebrate the game of the year with, notoriously, the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party. Although those wearing clothes are clad in dresses and pearls, this isn’t your mama’s cocktail party—between the gators and the dawgs you have a whole lot of party animals. (Bad pun, true statement.)
Penn State: Arts Fest
You know it’s a big deal when an Art Festival convinces over 125,000 people to hang out in the middle of Pennsylvania. (In the summer, no less!) Since 1967, theater-goers, art lovers, film buffs, and music fans have gathered to celebrate the arts, eat good food, and come up with an excuse to enjoy that delicious shaken lemonade. (Not into art but still into fun? Check out the Teddy Bear Parade—a children’s event where hundreds of kids march through the streets of State College alongside their favorite stuffed animal friends. Try to come up with a tradition cuter than that…we dare you.) Galleries, exhibitions, prizes, and an all-around artistic good time remind us that not all campus traditions are drowned in beer.
Think your school can out-eat, drink, or dance the colleges profiled? Tell us about it!