Homecoming traditions: Parades, football and Top the Tater, anyone?

Homecoming might be best-known for campus parades and football games, but at the University of Minnesota-Duluth the celebration wouldn’t be complete without the legendary Midwest dip Top the Tater.

With over a century of history, colleges and universities across Minnesota revel in their homecoming traditions while also working to create new ones. Despite homecoming originating as a way to bring alumni back to campus, schools also focus on engaging current students.

These unique events can include anything from Top the Tater Tuesday — an entire day dedicated to the sour cream chip dip at UMD — a competitive lip sync battle at Minnesota State Mankato and the annual parade of decorated golf carts through the University of St. Thomas campus.

Marissa Smith, associate vice president of engagement at the University of Minnesota Alumni Association, said homecoming is meaningful for students and alumni.

“Homecoming has evolved with the times, but its core remains unchanged,” Smith said. “It’s a celebration of the University of Minnesota as a home, you know, a place where lives are changed for the better.” 

George Micalone, student union and activity director at Winona State University, said there had been a homecoming stigma for some campuses that is not as prevalent as it used to be. 

“I think a lot of times people think of homecoming as a weekend of debauchery, shenanigans, and I just don’t think that’s the current students,” Micalone said.

There is a debate as to which school held the first homecoming — the University of Illinois in 1910 or the University of Missouri in 1911. Missouri is the most popular answer and thought to have started when the school encouraged alumni to attend a parade and football game, according to the school’s Alumni Association. 

That first homecoming was meant to renew the excitement in the rivalry between Mizzou and the University of Kansas. It was so successful — drawing a crowd of 9,000-plus — that it became an annual event. 

Traditions old and new

Annual homecoming weekends at many schools include a parade, alumni award gatherings and sports, usually a football game. 

One common tradition is the crowning of homecoming royalty. 

Nomin Senadheera, an international student who will graduate from Minnesota State in December, was chosen as MSU’s homecoming king last year and said it was both nice and overwhelming to win. 

Senadheera worked for the student events team that organizes MSU’s homecoming for a couple of years before running for homecoming royalty. 

“I appreciate it now and I can see the whole fun side to it because I’ve been in both sides,” Senadheera said. “I’ve been in the behind the scenes where we organize everything, and then I’ve also been on the other side of winning royalty.” 

Each university has its unique traditions, from Top the Tater Tuesday at UMD to the lip sync competition at MSU. 

The lip sync contest is a highlight of the week for a lot of students at MSU, said William Tourville, assistant director of campus programs at the school. The contest features six to 10 student clubs and groups that put together four- to eight-minute skits where they lip sync, dance and have costume changes to a different theme each year. 

“If you were to ask a lot of people, it’s their favorite event of the year, the entire year,” Tourville said. 

At UMD, Senior Director of Alumni Relations Matthew Duffy said traditions include cardboard boat races, chariot races and, of course, Top the Tater Tuesday. 

“It started like five or six years ago,” Duffy said. “It started off as a fun way to try Top the Tater and then Top the Tater the company, whoever owns that, found out we were doing this and so they just started donating like tons of Top the Tater stuff to us.” 

Top the Tater is a sour cream dip that originated in the Midwest and is often used as baked potato topping or with chips or vegetables. For Top the Tater Tuesday, students are offered free snacks and a chance to win a Top the Tater giveaway. 

While Duffy said Top the Tater Tuesday has taken on a life of its own, UMD also has homecoming events for alumni and athletics, including the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. 

History of homecomings

The first homecoming at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities was in 1914, when the football game was played on Northrop field against the Wisconsin Badgers, according to the university’s website. Minnesota won 14-3. 

Today the university boasts 525,000 alumni, while the entire Minnesota system has 633,000, according to Carter Collins, the senior director of communications for the U of M’s alumni association. 

“It’s one of the largest alumni populations in the country, for sure,” Collins said. And homecoming is an invitation to come back to campus. 

MSU’s first homecoming was in 1928, when it was the Mankato State Teachers College. 

Tourville said homecoming is an opportunity for those who received their degree and attended classes at MSU to engage with campus, current students and the public.

“Over the past 20 years here, it’s really morphed into an opportunity for the entire student body to show their spirit for the institution,” Tourville said. “There’s a lot of purple, there’s a lot of gold that week. A lot of students come out, and this is where they make their favorite memories.” 

At UMD, Duffy said homecoming gives students a quick break from the challenges of a long semester. 

“It’s a helpful way to sort of just realize for the first time or remember that you’re a Bulldog and when you are, you’re part of a much larger community,” Duffy said. 

UMD’s homecoming started in 1933 and has happened every year except 2020, according to the school’s website. 

Behind the scenes

For most colleges and universities, planning homecoming is the responsibility of a mix of alumni relations offices, student groups and athletic departments. 

Duffy said UMD’s alumni, student center and athletics staff get together to plan and start the initial conversations about homecoming in the spring. 

“Depending on what our audience is, we all kind of get together as a group and talk about what we want to do and try to support each other and try to promote it in different channels and that sort of thing,” Duffy said. 

Ashley Kaser, program manager for student events and entertainment at the University of Minnesota, said homecoming takes many months to plan. She added that organizers typically start meeting at the end of the fall semester or early spring semester doing things like figuring out schedules and deciding which events to keep or change. 

“A lot of that decision making happens after we talk with the student body, engage their interests and kind of wants and needs and what they want to do on campus and what they want their homecoming to look like,” Kaser said.

At Winona State, homecoming is planned a semester in advance, according to Micalone. 

“When it’s student-led activities, or at least student-initiated and student-facilitated on sight, not all the behind scene stuff is done by students,” Micalone said. “But you know, all the idea generation and the volunteer management, and ultimately the execution is done by students.” 

For Stephanie Broom, one of the U of M’s advisers for student events and entertainment, challenges include weather and planning around other events. Broom added having a good “flow” for the week when picking events is also a challenge. 

Kaser said homecoming is an outlier event to plan because it serves the broader U of M community, not just students. 

“There can be a lot more sort of, like, politics behind the scene and a lot more eyes and ears on what we’re doing, which is both really helpful and something challenging,” Kaser said. 

Is homecoming for students or alumni? 

Ann Sheldon, a U of M alumni award winner this year, said the homecoming parade and collecting buttons were her favorite activities as a student. 

“Homecoming is a time for students to gather, celebrate and interact with alumni,” Sheldon said. “The campus is alive with energy, and everyone is focused on a common activity — celebrating.” 

Duffy said at UMD there are activities for both alumni and students during homecoming, just with different focuses. He added the student activities have a really fun and different energy. 

“We’re never going to ask our alumni to make a cardboard boat race and try to sail it across Bagley Pond because chances are you’re getting wet, so we don’t do things like that,” Duffy said. “So I think student activities are really fun, they’re really whimsical, they’re like usually ways to get students doing activities often as a group.” 

As part of U of M’s alumni association, Smith said at the end of the day the university is trying to give everyone an opportunity to participate while realizing they all don’t want to celebrate same way. 

“Homecoming is for students, it’s for alumni, it’s for faculty, it’s for staff, it’s for community members and everyone plugs in the ways that are most meaningful to them, right?” Smith said. 

Kaser said some schools have deeply rooted traditions that appeal to the entire student body, but the U of M is different. She added that the traditions different students embrace are not the same because there is no one definition of what it means to be a Gopher. 

“By maintaining some of that history and offering that to students, it helps bring the campus community together and give them some shared language in which they can relate to each other,” Kaser said. 

Homecoming for everyone

Senadheera said as an international student at MSU, it can be difficult to understand the meaning of homecoming and why it’s celebrated. 

“I can see like international students, at least in my experience, some think this is a waste of time,” Senadheera said. “Like they don’t understand the cultural aspect of it and how people enjoy it.”

Senadheera said when he first got to campus he shared similar thoughts but then began to appreciate campus activities once he joined the student events team. 

Broom said at the U of M students can attend events put on by the International Student and Scholar Services, including a slideshow about the history of homecoming and ways students can get involved.

“They also participate in the parade,” Broom said of international students. “I think that’s just a great way for them to like be a part of this tradition that they don’t really understand yet, but I think it helps with the Gopher spirit and getting them involved in large events like this and part of the tradition.”

UMD’s Duffy said while homecoming is a great way for alumni to remember what they love about being on campus, participating in the events reminds students that they are part of something much bigger. 

“I think homecoming first and foremost is really about students, and I think it always has really emphasized the student experience,” Duffy said.

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