On an otherwise unremarkable spring day in 1915, William T. Foster, Reed’s first President, strolls toward Sallyport, lost in thought. Life is a course charted between knowledge and ignorance, light and dark, truth and fiction – indeed, between Lux and Nox, the two grotesques guarding the portal as he enters. Where to guide his nascent College, newly troubled by adversity? And it is this question, posed precisely between these two poles, exactly as he enters the portal, that bends the fabric of time toward an answer and propels him out the other side… into 2025!
Reunion-goers have the chance to pick up the quest–your task is to help him return to his time by deciphering 11 clues to 11 locations around Reed Campus, enjoying a rather pleasant tour while collecting one letter at each locale. Then, gathering together those letters, you have only to unscramble them into a four-word phrase and you have saved the day. But more: the first 250 to show their work at Prexy earn a special keepsake reward – and yes, boundless glory!The Scoutbook you’ll pick at Prexy contains valuable information to spark your quest, or pick up the trail at any of the 11 locations if you happen upon one over the weekend.
As commencement and graduation draw ever closer so does the grandest celebration of the year at Reed College: Renn Fayre! You can read more about the history of Renn Fayre in a series of articles published through The Grail, a student-run creative magazine. I’m not here to tell you the history of Renn Fayre itself, but a short history of some of its best previous themes–all leading up to the reveal of this year’s theme, of course!
The first decades of Renn Fayre were Renaissance themed, or without a theme entirely. In the year 2000, an article in The Quest led to the first themed Renn Fayre:
Our magical weekend of joyous mayhem and drug-induced glory is only the beginning. The forces of Good and Evil are upon us […] There is only one answer. SUPERHEROES.
— Mistress of Costumery, The Quest, April 4, 2000
The success of a themed celebration took off, and in 2002, the Czars made the theme a riff of a classic film with: Bill and Ted’s Excellent RF. The campus came alive with creatures for the apocalypse theme of ’03.
The entrance to the library, decorated for the apocalypse
’05 was graced with a hot air balloon and a Ziggy Stardust theme!
The view through the Sallyport of festivities in 2005A Renn Fayre hot air balloon on the great lawn
The Body was the theme for 2009, which featured a giant vagina and a “boob room,” where the bean bag chairs had nipples. In the aughts, theme reveal videos became all the rage. During a ball held a few months before the semester’s finale, a Czar-made video would play to reveal the theme for the spring’s celebrations. The earliest one I can find is the reveal for 2010, where they blasted Daft Punk and revealed the Final Frontier theme.
In 2012, the Czars took a page from the HUM 110 syllabus and themed Renn Fayre: “Genesis”, although the theme was more broadly about the origins of creation, not limited to its namesake required reading. The great lawn was filled with little plastic flamingos in 2015 for the Miami Boom Boom Renn Fayre, which was surely a blast wilder than Spring Breaking in Miami proper.
Elvis Presley (impersonators), balloon arches, and gaudy decorations peppered Reed’s campus for the Sin City Renn Fayre of 2018, accompanied by the Vegas Chapel that was set up all weekend, pictured below. Rumor has it that some of the weddings performed were never formally annulled, and some of those Reedies are still married to this day…
A wedding ceremony in the Sallyport, officiated by Elvis
For 2019, the theme was Lucid Dreams (not the hit single by the late Juice WRLD, but the concept itself)! Student art projects for this Renn Fayre featured lights and colorful psychedelic iconography.
Jellyfish in the grove on the Great Lawn
I might be biased, as this was my first Renn Fayre, but I think the Pandemonium theme of 2022 was truly a sight to behold. A student put together a montage of thesis burnings, where the outfits and whimsy around campus are on full display.
While all of the themes listed above were amazing in their own right, I’m most excited for this year’s theme (and it’s definitely not because I’m a senior). This year’s theme is, drum roll please……. Cosmic Resurgence! The theme reveal video features intergalactic iconography of all sorts. I hope to see an abundance of aliens, astronauts, planets, moon dust, retro futuristic outfits, and disco gogo boots!
Did Renn Fayre in your time have themes? What were your favorites?
Reed College has an abundance of niche and quirky traditions and lore, but we also partake in some of the more standard college traditions. One such tradition is that of the Alma Mater anthem, Fair Reed. An often forgotten aspect of Reed culture and history, the Reed College song Fair Reed was proposed by Reed’s first president, William Trufant Foster, in 1910 or 1911. He also wrote the lyrics. The tune is to an old Scotch melody, “Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms”. I employ you to keep the tradition alive by reading the lyrics and maybe even giving it a sing, for without our collective memory this tradition may fade away.
The symbol π, as every Reedie knows, represents a fundamental geometrical constant—the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter—whose precise value is elusive, but which famously begins 3.14159. π has become a delightful excuse to celebrate in the spring with pizza, pie, and Euclidean tomfoolery–on March 14th, Pi Day.
Of course a holiday like Pi Day would take off at Reed! An excuse to eat Lauretta Jean’s pie, grab a slice from Commons, and argue about the validity of mathematical concepts fits right in with the Reed ethos. Folks around campus jump in–the Library historically went all out, and one could not even dip into any of the Pi Day pies until exactly 1:59 in the afternoon; pies might be found in any number of offices in Eliot; and the SU is often filled with students competing to recite the most digits.
What many don’t know is that Pi Day itself can be traced back to Reed as well, through Larry Shaw ’61. Larry was a physics major at Reed, before going on to be the technical curator for the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco. In 1988, he came up with the idea of honoring the influential constant with an annual party. The Exploratorium celebrated its first Pi Day on March 14 at 1:59 p.m.
Larry in 2007
Larry believed the best part of Pi Day was its ability to make math seem accessible and fun to folks who may have suffered through it during their school days. He was honored that it became such a national holiday. π may be an irrational number, but Larry’s celebration of it was rational, civil, and orderly.
For 38 years, he donned his red cap emblazoned with the magic digits and led a parade of museumgoers, each of them holding a sign bearing one of the digits of π. They would march in strict order, with 3 in front, the decimal point next, and then 141592653489 . . . Of course the number of sign carriers was exhausted long before the infinite digits of pi.
Larry passed away in 2017, but his memory lives on as we celebrate the holiday. Rest assured, Larry condoned all varieties of pie; per his wife, “He didn’t have a favorite, he ate everything.” Grab a slice of your favorite and join us today in toasting Larry and π.
If there’s one thing that unites Reedies, it’s our love for learning, and that’s what Paideia is all about. This year, Paideia will take place from Saturday, January 18, to Sunday, January 26, and will include an array of classes taught by students, professors, and alumni. With some returning courses such as “Building Reed College in Minecraft”, “Reed College Survivor,” and “The Art of Pokemon Battling” along with some new ones like “World Domination 110: the Reed Alumni Agenda”, there’s classes for everyone!
As we move towards post-pandemic life, Paideia is once again open for all Reed community members, which includes alumni, so we hope to see you there!
Have you heard the Reed myth about a group of people dressed in black druidic robes, marching in a hallowed procession that includes a cappella singing, torches, and a boar’s head on a pallet? Or perhaps you’ve witnessed it yourself on a frosty winter’s night? This curious scene isn’t just lore; it remains a beloved feature of the annual alumni holiday party. This yuletide celebration dates to the college’s early years, with the boar’s head procession appearing in the 1920s and becoming quite the beloved tradition.
