Last Look: Homecoming

By John Esh, Collections Archivist

With the leaves turning brown and a chill in the air, the Archives opens its collections to take a look back at Homecoming, a tradition stretching back over one-hundred years here at Macalester.

Macalester’s first large-scale Homecoming celebration was in 1916, featuring a football game against Hamline in June of that year. The May 30th edition of the Mac Weekly wrote that it was “sure to be a victory…because the Methodists…have already brought firewood for a celebratory bonfire.” And, sure enough, it was. Macalester defeated Hamline 20 to 13 and St. Thomas students were on hand to help celebrate.

With the US entering World War I, Homecoming was put on pause. The celebration resumed in 1921 almost three years after Armistice Day, and evolved into a full day of celebration with activities, food, and a “miniature blizzard” during the big game when Mac beat St. Johns. As years passed, Homecoming would feature dances, plays, parades, trike races, pickle-eating contests, and other festive events.

In 1937, Macalester crowned its first Homecoming Queen (or Queen of Scots), Margaret Greig ’37. This tradition continued until 1969 with its final recipient (among much controversy), Sandy Zimmerman ’70, an “avant-garde”-loving art major, and the first married Queen, who submitted a caricature of herself for the program. That next year signaled the end of the thirty-three-year tradition with a Court of Princesses selected rather than a singular Queen.

In an October 24th, 1969 Mac Weekly letter to the editor, Chuck Horton ’72 lamented the waning popularity of the event by saying, “It isn’t hip or sophisticated enough for everyone to…have community fun without…drugs or psychedelic lights or sounds,” and he may have been right. The rapidly changing landscape of the American college campus had rendered the annual fête a relic of a bygone era. In the decades following, Homecoming scaled back and returned to a focus on athletics and tailgate parties throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

Today, a spirit of homecoming infuses September’s Mac Fest—an annual weekend of programming and events for all members of the Mac community that showcases campus life.

Last Look strives for accuracy, but there are often gaps in the archival record. If you have a correction, context to add, or a suggestion about what to cover next, please email us at [email protected].