Treasures from the Archive: Snow Weekend

January can get pretty nasty in Minnesota. The excitement of the Christmas season has worn off, the snow has settled in for good, and the cold winds start to blow right through you. Rather than complain about it, why not have a party and celebrate our Minnesota heartiness!

In January 1959, Concordia’s Pep Club sponsored the first Snow Days Weekend. The festivities included a coronation ceremony, ice skating party, a wrestling meet and basketball game, and a party at the Student Union. 

Concordia's first Snow King and Snow Queen Art Plath and Donna Jean Demm.

The first Snow Days was so much fun that the event would be held annually for decades. Moving forward, that weekend would expand until Snow Weekend became Snow Week. Each day of this week had some sort of activity for the Concordia community. Events mainly revolved around winter sports and entertainment such as snow sculpting, variety shows (…I hear Jason Rahn, CSP Alum and now Associate VP for Student Life, put on a pretty sweet Magic Show), dances or, in one case, outdoor hot tubs were temporarily installed on the Knoll for those brave enough to partake. Snow is fun; and besides, nothing beats the winter cold like a little fun (…or migrating south for the winter!)

1965 Snow Weekend Court sporting Scandinavian sweaters.

Michael Hernick recently graduated from Concordia University, Saint Paul with a major in History. He spent his summer buried in the Archive digging up interesting nuggets of Concordia's history. We will be highlighting his work with Throwback Thursday post, Treasures from the Archive, throughout the year!