The history of Michigan Tech’s forgotten homeless-themed Homecomings
Homecoming at Michigan Tech has existed since 1922. In recent years, Homecoming has had many unique themes for students to play into. There was a time, however, where the theme for nearly every Homecoming season was to dress like a homeless person with records of this tradition beginning in the 1960s.
Some events during this time included things such as “Hobo Days,” which was a homeless themed celebration that took place on Oct. 19, 1960. According to a News from Michigan Tech article published in the 1970s, this holiday is believed to be what inspired the homeless theme for Homecoming. Another themed event was the homeless parade, also known as the “Bean Run” where students would drive modified, broken down cars as parade floats. Other students would participate in a “Bed Race” where they modified a bed to ride on wheels. This parade started sometime in the 1960s, but for a brief period in the 1970s the homeless dressed students would hand out candy to the adults and children watching. Some years the parade would start in Hancock and travel all the way back to MTU, while other times, such as in 1979, it would only be around campus. In addition to the parade, students dressed like they were homeless would get free entry to a homeless mixer in Wads, or could get a free snack from the MUB.
While the homeless theme was one aspect of Homecoming, there were still non-themed parts. As a precursor to the events we have today, Homecoming had challenges where student organizations would challenge one another to random things. In 1965 these challenges consisted of greased pig catching, egg throwing, and a shaving cream fight. However the most popular challenge was the chug-a-lug, which was a drinking-based event. While the specifics of this event are unknown, it did use actual brewed alcohol up until 1979 where it was switched to root beer.
Homecoming had a lot of changes in the 70s. Before 1971 Homecoming royalty was decided by the varsity football team, after it was decided partially by students. In 1979, the same year alcohol was banned from all Homecoming events, they began using electronic voting.
At the approach of the 2000s people begin to see the homeless theme as insensitive and strange. According to a Lode article from this time, the entire university was shut down for two days as homeless dressed students overran the campus. Due to this backlash the parade stopped running in the late 2000s. “Historically there was a parade, cardboard boats kinda evolved from that, building a float [turned in]to building something that floats,” Director of Student Leadership and Involvement, Danielle Meirow, explained. Even though the theme might have changed over the years, its mission still hasn’t changed. Homecoming is an event meant to bring people together in a team event and promote comradery according to Micah Vacco, an event coordinator for Homecoming.
For more information on the history of Homecoming, you can visit the MTU archives located in the library or check out mtu.edu/library/archives.
