There’s a chill in the air, the trees are slowly reaching peak fall colors and nearly 1,000 parents and family members are about to descend on the Hill for the College’s annual Family Weekend. A time for joyous reconnection with loved ones and egregiously long lines at every business in Gambier, Family Weekend has been a beloved tradition since 1937 — but it hasn’t always been the same. A dive into the Collegian archives sheds light on how Family Weekend has evolved since its implementation (though of course, the more things change, the more they stay the same).
Originally called “Parents Weekend,” the first appearance of Family Weekend in the pages of the Collegian came in the May 18, 1937, issue under the headline “Parents Have Weak-End.” It seems that Senior Council, the entity in charge of planning the event that year, neglected to get the word out, resulting in a well-intentioned but poorly attended spectacle that included a chapel service and a luncheon. The article, which lacks a byline, reported, “The quiet weekend did offer the parents a rest; probably they were not interested in what Kenyon does anyway.” With the plethora of events on the agenda for this year, visiting families may miss the restful quality of the inaugural Family Weekend!
In the following decades, Family Weekend seemed to fall by the wayside. It is next mentioned in the February 6, 1969, issue of the Collegian, which reported that a seemingly improved Parents’ Weekend hosted by Kenyon’s fraternities would include faculty lectures, a talk by the noted anthropologist Margaret Mead and division open houses for parents to get a sense of life in a Kenyon fraternity. In spite of the proactive planning, the article noted some pessimism: “Some fraternity presidents said they would expect a small turnout, since several divisions have their own parents’ weekends.” It was also mentioned that few parents would be willing to take off of work to visit campus on Friday, further dampening hopes of a boisterous weekend.
In 1970, the Collegian reported that 300 parents were expected to arrive on the Hill for the “second annual Parent’s Weekend,” implying that the fraternity-sponsored event from the year prior exceeded expectations. At the time, the Coordinate College for Women was still a novelty for the College, which would go fully coeducational in 1973. As such, one of the advertised highlights of the weekend was a panel discussion “with student and administration participants on Dormitory Morality and Sectional Autonomy and The Coordinate College.”
The tradition of having drama productions premiere over Family Weekend extends back to the 1970s as well. The April 7, 1977, issue of the Collegian previewed the presentation of the play London Assurance in conjunction with the ground-breaking ceremony for what was then referred to as “the new theatrical facility,” today known as the Bolton Theater. Shortly thereafter in the April 21, 1977, issue, then-Student Activities Secretary Georgiene Radlick ’76 is quoted as saying, “We expected 600 people and got considerably less,” with approximately 380 parents and families making the trek to Gambier. Even so, the same article reports that questionnaires asking participants to share their favorite activities from the weekend revealed that the production of London Assurance was a big hit.
Family Weekend continued to be a mainstay in the academic calendar over the years, and some of the perennial problems of the event were just as much of a nuisance in the days of yore as they are today. It can feel impossible to get a table at any of the restaurants in Gambier or Mount Vernon when everyone and their brother (and mother, and father) is looking for a nice meal out. In 1984, a “special buffet luncheon and sit down dinner” was planned in “K.C. ‘s Sweet Cafe, located in Gund Commons,” as the March 22 issue of the Collegian explained. The article highlighted that the buffet was intended to mitigate the “traditional mealtime hassles” that had plagued past instances of Family Weekend, with the Cafe’s usual 50-person capacity being expanded to accommodate large crowds. According to the Collegian, the lunch menu was to feature items including eggs, omelets, French toast and glazed salmon. Dinner promised caviar, Nova lox canapes, veal oscar with crab meat and bananas foster for dessert.
As one might expect, campus tends to look its best when large numbers of visitors are coming to stay. The April 11, 1991, issue of the Collegian printed the schedule for the event with an introduction noting the changes to the College’s surroundings: “Middle Path is freshly mulched, the trash around South Campus is all picked up…it must be time for Parents Weekend!” The same introduction noted that 1991 was the last year in which Family Weekend was held in the spring — starting that September, it made a permanent switch to the fall semester.
Though it may look different, Family Weekend continues to present a special opportunity for our loved ones to experience what life is like for a Kenyon student. With this in mind, we hope all our readers enjoy the festivities that campus has to offer this weekend and spare a thought for the ghosts of Family Weekends-past.