Carnegie Mellon University - Thistle Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

Page 33 text:

SPRING CARNIVAL Spring Carnival. An event everybody at Carnegie-Mellon knows about, but at the same time it is one very few people know anything about. The Spring Carnival Committee is made up of a dozen or so people all chairing individual committees, ranging from Midway, to Fireworks, to Ceremonies. These people, working with an annual budget of about $16,000, begins working in October on Carnival. The theme is chosen sometime in the late fall. SCC, working with the Midway committee, made up of 30 or so booth chairmen arrive at the theme. Spring Carnival, as every one knows, is at the mercy of the weather. This was clearly illustrated during Spring Carnival 1981, which is pictured here. It is most unfortunate that this carnival may be chiefly remembered for the cold and rain, rather than what it was, an excellent Carnival that was hampered by poor weather. For those who don't know. Spring Carnival began in the year 1920, when a group of engineers held a soap box derby. Along with this, a Carnival was held, ostensibly to revive sagging student spirit. As we all know, that soap box derby has become sweepstakes, and the Carnival has grown tremendously. In 1921, Gamma Delta Iota completed the buggy course, which has remained virtually unchanged in 62 years, in a time of 4:38. In 1981, the Carnegie Involvement Assoc. (CIA) completed the course in 2:10.5. Today, Spring Carnival is made up of about 30 booths, more than half of which are sponsored by independent, non-greek organizations, a dozen rides, fireworks, entertainment, events and Sweepstakes, all of which combine to make Spring Carnival not only one of the biggest activities not only on the CMU campus, but also in the city of Pittsburg. 29