By Mia Gallagher · Celebrate 150 Correspondent
As another year at Grove City College comes to a close, an opportunity to reflect on the achievements earned, the friendships made, the trophies won and the faith gained is upon us once again.
At other schools, finals, baccalaureate and graduation are the traditions that bring the academic year to a close. But at Grove City, we have another tradition that makes the end of the year all the more special: Family Weekend.
This weekend, the college will welcome the families of its students to its hallowed halls and grounds, offering moments for celebration, fellowship and fun.
But where did this tradition come from, when did it begin and how did it reach the format we enjoy today?
Well, for this final 150 reflection of the semester, it seems fitting to dive into the history of this time-honored Grove City College tradition.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, colleges across the country celebrated May Day and the pageantry that accompanied it. Grove City College was no exception, as its first documented May Day celebrations date back to the early 1900s.
But what exactly is May Day, and what did this celebration entail?
“May Day is a holiday that is celebrated on May 1. It goes back to a centuries-old Celtic tradition, serving as an awakening of spring and kind of like a festival of flowers,” Director of College Archives and Galleries Hilary Walczak ’09 said.
Traditional May Day festivities included raising and dancing around may poles (which were colored structures with ribbons fixed to the top), creating flower wreaths/crowns, selecting a May Court and crowning a May queen. The court and queen were composed of senior women, almost making the May Day festivities a celebration of these women and their accomplishments.
According to the College Archives website, “although a pageant would not be held on campus for more than a decade, Grove City College’s first May queen was actually crowned in 1905. Senior Madge (Faloon) Thompson ’05 was chosen by the undergraduate girls of the college, who planned the event to honor women of the senior class.”
In 1916, the college — with the help of then Dean of Women Lois Cory Thompson — transformed the originally student-driven effort into an elaborate pageant. Under this new official model, the college recognized its first annual May queen, Lula (Caven) Heckathorne ’16.
Around this same time, another little May Day tradition began: May baskets.
“May baskets were a fun little tradition. Sweethearts or children would create these baskets full of flowers, trinkets and treats and leave them on the women’s dorm doors. They would knock on the door, yell ‘May basket’ and try to run away unseen,” Walczak said.
“If the recipient of the basket caught the giver, it is said that the tradition was to give them a kiss on the cheek,” Walczak said.
According to tradition, the coronation of the May queen could officially begin once the baskets had been distributed.
In the 1920s, the May Day festivities reached a new level of complexity and theatrics.
This effort was led by then Director of Women’s Athletics Esther Poster and included elaborate dances and plays set to the theme of that year’s festival. Over time, the simple dance acts were combined to form the Spring Dance Company performance, known today as Spring Orchesis.
The year 1957 marked several important changes to the May Day festivities. It was during this celebration that President J. Stanley Harker rechristened May Day as Parents Day. Prior to this change, Parents Day had been celebrated in the fall. But as the college’s fall Homecoming festivities continued to grow, Harker reasoned that moving Parents Day to the spring would be beneficial to students and parents alike.
During the same year, Harker added two new events to the Parents Day/May Day lineup: Recognition Convocation and Greek Sing.
Both events remain staples of the college’s end-of-year activities today. But while Convocation has remained relatively unchanged over the years, Greek Sing has evolved extensively.
“It was added to Parent’s Day as a way to highlight involvement in Greek Life to the families of members. In the early 1960s each Greek group had to assign a theme to their section and performed at least two songs,” Walczak said.
In 1973, the college extended the event to include independent groups as well, resulting in the name changed from Greek Sing to All-College Sing.
By 1975, male housing groups began to join the festivities as well, truly making this an all-college event.
“When it started, it was just groups standing up on risers, singing songs, prim and proper. Over the years, however, some groups were a little bit more rebellious and it kind of led the way for what we have today,” Walczak said.
These “rebellious” acts began when the brothers of Delta Iota Kappa performed a “risque and rude” version of Old MacDonald. Later, Alpha Sigma broke the rules and performed as a jazz band rather than a singing ensemble. According to Walczak, these antics continued until the mid-1980s, when the rules were finally changed to allow dance moves, costumes and theatrics.
By the 2000s, so many events had been added to the Parent’s Day lineup that the event’s name was revised once again to Family Weekend. It was also during this time that the traditional May Day festivities began to fall out of fashion.
We started seeing a dwindling number of attendees to the May pageant. It also became extremely difficult to get students to participate. So in 2016, after the 100th year of the May pageant, the college made the difficult decision to end the tradition,” Walczak said.
That’s what I treasure. And that’s what I’ll miss the most, too.
According to the archive website, the college archive put on an exhibit highlighting the 100th and final year of May Pageant at Grove City College. They also invited past May queens to participate in the festivities and carry out the tradition one final time.
Way. On this one, they will be accompanied by a couple they met on a different tour years ago.
When asked if she had any last things to say to Grove City students, she explained, “They’re getting so much wisdom from so many other sources that I don’t know if I have much to add. … I’m not the only one who would say this, but get to know your professors, get to know your classmates and find your people.”
“Those relationships are really important, and they are lasting,” she added. “The truth is, you’ll forget a lot of what you’ve learned. There’s still great value in what we’re doing here. The relationships will endure. … I’ve really, really enjoyed my time here and I’m going to miss it a lot.”
