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1948
History of Pioneer Day &
Pioneer Week at Chico State
Pioneer Week: From Senior Day to week-long festival
Pioneer
Week Gazette May 1980
Pioneer
Days, Chico State University’s Old West extravaganza, has gone through some
changes in its 70-year history —evolving
from a single Senior Day when the college was still the Chico Normal School into
a week-long festival.
The
Pioneer Days saga began in 1915 with Senior Day, which was held each May to show
high school seniors the teachers college campus.
Senior
Day offered students lunch, musical entertainment, a tour of the college grounds
and a speech by the institution’s president.
The
event was discontinued during World War I, but its return in 1920 was hailed as
a success because 275 students participated.
By
1925, the event had added a touch of the western influence, when students J.W.
“Bill” Hamilton and Payne Euland formed a Whiskerino club. The all-male
social group decided to dress in Old West clothes and grow beards for a few
days.
That
idea caught
on like a prairie fire,
and club members prevailed on the campus president to combine Senior Day with
a Wiskerino Day.
Whiskers
were mandatory for the occasion. Those without them were jokingly hauled off by
classmates. A few landed in Big Chico Creek.
But
by 1927, the day fell out of favor with townspeople, who were outraged by
“disgraceful costumes
and random shooting.”
Following
the public outcry, the
event was slated to be
canceled the next year, but1 students resurrected the celebration
anyway with a different name, Nepenthe Day, which means “the
drink of the gods.”
The
subterfuge, and
the new name, didn’t
go over well with the
town populace, who complained the students were doing more drinking than
pioneering.
In
1929, Pioneer
Day was officially
established, along
with many of its
traditions, including the parade and the Sheriff and Little Nell selection. The first
couple to be selected
was Harold Spencer end
Cecille
Dubrow.
During
the 1930s, the parade became
a major feature of the
day and musical comedies
were a part of the program.
It
was during the 1940s that Little Nell became the victim
of repeated ‘kidnapping’ by rival organizations.
By
1947, the event was expanded and officially was called Pioneer Week. Students
began wearing costumes on the Monday of the celebration and stump speeches for
Sheriff and Little Nell speeches evolved into skits and
vaudeville-like presentations later dubbed “Presents.”
It
was around that time that what is now known as quad
projects began. It was then called the Ghost Town Carnival.
In
1952, the week include a rodeo for the first time, which was known as the Wild West Show.
By
this time, sororities and fraternities began wearing identical costumes as
part of their campaigns for Sheriff and Little Nell.
Approximately
30 different campus organizations participated in the 1985 chapter of
Pioneer Days, which was billed as “70 Years of Achievement.”
To
Bring back the days of ’49 and the days when our ancestors crossed the plains;
to make the college an open house that day for visiting seniors from near-by
schools: and to afford
an opportunity for the students to have experience in organizing programs
and carrying out traditions.
The following year,
1931, found Pioneer Day proclaimed as the “outstanding activity of the
year.’ No doubt it was and has continued to be each year since then. Nineteen
thirty-one saw the addition of the froshsoph tug-o-war over Big Chico Creek.
which had become ‘traditional” in 1931. Indeed this inter-class struggle
was an annual event until at least 1953.
By
1938, western costumes were worn from Thursday afternoon through Saturday; the
Delta Psi Delta Hangtown Dance (Friday) had become an annual event, and one or
two assemblies and dances were held during the week preceding Pioneer Day
“to get people in the spirit.” During these years, it was mandatory, with
violators subject to a kangaroo court trial, for all students to wear western
outfits and all males to grow what whiskers they could. Further, Little Nell and
Sheriff elections were held a
advance of Pioneer
Day,
probably so they could rehearse the Saturday morning “melodrama” which
became traditional in the 1930s. The melodrama featured the classic story of
the heroine (Little Nell)
in grave danger of harm
at the hands of the villain, rescued just in time by the hero (Sheriff).
The
major attraction of Pioneer Day in the 1930s was the parade, with up to 40,000
spectators turning out to watch. The number of spectators has rarely exceeded
the large crowds of the 1930s, although the number of parade entries has
increased. The 1930’s entries went up to 30 or 35, including faculty
entries, but by 1967 this number had risen to 170.
-
The
war years did not stop, or even slow down the expansion of Pioneer Day,
despite rationing and the decline in the male population. By 1941, stump
speeches which expanded into skits or presentations of candidates, were traditional
for Little Nell and Sheriff candidates. The election was still held a month in
advance of Pioneer Day as the melodrama continued to launch the morning
activities. Also, in 1941, the Sheriff appointed an all-male posse and a group
of Girl Rangers to enforce the beard and costume law on all students. This
year, too, Little Nell was kidnapped for the first, time, which became a
tradition that lasted until the 1960s.
1942 saw the death of
the student written and produced musical. It was replaced by a student variety
show. By the early 1940s Pioneer Day and its activities, stretching over a
longer period of time, had become quite rowdy with much drinking and horseplay.
A 1941 editorial in the Wildcat cautioned students about the Rob Newell
“noise and disruption” at
The late ‘40s saw
Pioneer Day grow ever larger. The celebration was referred to as “pioneer
week” for the first time in the 1947 Record and by one Wildcat columnist,
who wrote that Pioneer Day “is no longer a day, but a whole week of fun and
frolic.” With the requirement that students begin wearing costumes on the
Monday preceding Pioneer Day, it truly was a week-long affair. The Little Nell
and Sheriff campaigning was moved to the week just prior to Pioneer Week.
Also, Little Nell now selected her sown Girl Rangers who, along with the
Sheriff’s Posse, were supposed to protect her from abductors. Unfortunately,
neither group was able to prevent kidnappers from invading a class in session
and taking Little Nell after a brief fight, which sent one police officer down
for the count. The “outlaws” were later arrested for breaking in the windows
and doors of a vacant house in which they thought Little Nell was hiding.
1948
saw such activities continue, although not quite so rough. Innovation occurred
in the week’s program as Little Nell and Sheriff candidates were identified
with organizations for the first time, ~at least officially. Stump speeches
and skits were moved to the week of Pioneer Week. The townspeople were invited
to directly participate in the week’s activities. While this participation
was to be only for the 1848 centennial celebration and was not expected to
become an annual affair, it did become traditional that local residents
participate in the parade and later the Ghost Town carnival.
The
introduction of quad projects built by campus organizations also apparently
occurred in 1948. Thus, an authentic western town was created each year
thereafter as the focal point for many of the week’s events. The quads grew
out of elaborate campaigning devices that had been used in the past. Also that
year Pioneer Week received national exposure on Mutual’s Queen for a Day radio
show. A “Queen’’ later came as a special guest for Pioneer Day. Such
publicity continued as Pioneer Day was promoted by students appearing on San
Francisco Television programs and by getting a LIFE magazine photographer to
take pictures in 1951.
Through
the next few years the usual activities continued with few changes, but additional
events were added. The Variety Show was put on two, then three nights during the
week. In 1950, sororities wore identical costumes as part of their Little Nell
campaigns. This idea became traditional for all groups, male and female,
beginning in 1951. The first Wild West Show was also held in 1950, later to
become the Rodeo. 1951 and ‘53 saw attempts to revive Pioneer Day as a time to
host and honor high school seniors. This idea was not well received and little
mention has been made of it since.
Pioneer
Week 1952 saw a student seriously wounded by a blank cartridge. This and other
wild happenings over the preceding few years resulted in a series of
recommendations from the Board of Commissioners which were adopted for the
next few years:
1.
No classes to be held on Friday.
2.
No dances or evening activities to be held before Thursday.
3.
Students expected to attend class through Thursday.
4.
Elections to be held Wednesday with runoffs on Thursday.
5.
Campaigning forbidden before Monday.
6.
Little Nell and Sheriff announced Friday at special assembly.
These rules were further elaborated on prior to the 1953 celebration. Restrictions were put on campaigning so that no posters of candidates were allowed before Wednesday, and except in designated spots, slogan signs only were allowed. This year, too, the Variety Show was replaced by a Broadway musical, “Bloomer Girl.” These attempts to tone down Pioneer Week had mixed success. As the official activities were more regulated, the unofficial ones continued to expand and grow with large open “keggers.” Such activities led the 1958 Record to proclaim that “parties are the rule rather than the exception . . . (students) pause only briefly for classes.
The
curtailment of official activities held on through the early 1960s. Then
Presents, formerly stump speeches and skits, began to be held on
Monday rather than Wednesday and in 1963 the torch lighting ceremony was first held. Also Pioneer Week budgets began to grow from $2,001 in 1957 to $4,611 in 1962. By 1966, grievances about size and extent were being heard again.
Pioneer
Week still remained a week-long event, requiring much student involvement prior
to the week. The questions concerning the purpose and direction of the
celebration have been raised repeatedly through the spring of 1973. It will be
up to the students of 1974 to determine how the week should be approached and
what they want it to mean in the future.
1968
saw more questions raised. Presents were questioned as to “the humor used
and the quality of the entertainment. Students themselves found parts of the
evening offensive and inappropriate.” That year saw the first of the big name
groups brought to Chico for the Ghost Town Concert. By 1971, this concert became
“completely unmanageable.” Fortunately no serious injuries were reported.
As a result of concert problems, which
had started as an alternative to open keggers with unwieldy crowds, lesser
known groups have been invited and the problems have declined.