On April 23, West Chester University held its 18th annual Banana Day. Banana Day is one of the many unique things about WCU, and many students look forward to it all year round.
Although many WCU students do not know the origin of Banana Day, they could learn something by visiting the official Banana Day website. Some of the information on the website is out of date, but it provides an interesting background to one of the best days at WCU.
Apparently, Rodolfo “Rudy” Tellez founded Banana Day in 1996 when he organized the handing out of 3,000 bananas on campus. A similar event happened in 1997, and then Banana Day took a hiatus. However, the Banana Day that all West Chester students know and love resumed with full force in 1999, and WCU has never looked back.
“Banana Day is just so much fun,” said student Colleen Curry. “Plus, it feels like spring is finally here when Banana Day comes, because everyone is outside playing games.”
The thing about Banana Day that gets students excited is the free t-shirts. 1,000 t-shirts were printed and given out for free to students who win games and answer trivia questions correctly. At a school of over 15,000, getting one of these limited edition t-shirts becomes very competitive very quickly. This year’s simple black shirts displayed a group of bananas at a crosswalk like the iconic album cover of “Abbey Road” by The Beatles.
“After 11 a.m., the number of people wearing Banana Day t-shirts was increasing and the crowds at the locations with games kept getting larger and larger,” the SAC Contemporary Issues chair MaryBeth Sadow said.
Banana Day volunteers handed out bananas all over campus, and students could play games to win t-shirts in multiple different places. The academic quad boasted a schedule packed with banana games, trivia, relay races, and a 50/50 raffle. Some of the activities on the academic quad included the game ninja and a challenge for students to give a speech without any fillers, such as “um,” “uh,” and “like.” The residential quad, on the other hand, hosted lawn games like Kan Jam, corn hole, and ladder golf, as well as more banana games and trivia. WCUR had DJs set up on the Sykes patio to do t-shirt giveaways and play music, while in the ballrooms, there were banana games and trivia, as well as a mechanical surfboard and banana-themed snacks, including banana bread and banana smoothies. There were also banana games and trivia happening at the South Campus Clubhouse, and many bananas were given away on East Campus outside of Swope.
Students who did not want to play games could skip all of the hoopla if they found one of the five golden bananas hidden around campus. Students who found a golden banana could go directly to Sykes 256 and claim their shirts, rather than having to compete for them like other students.
Banana Day always has a special guest, and this year did not disappoint. The special guest of Banana Day 2014 was Dia Doce, a local bakery in West Chester, who gave away free cupcakes for the afternoon. There were also several students who got into the Banana Day spirit by wearing big banana suits or gorilla costumes.
Banana Day lasted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and then Banana Night, hosted by the Purple and Gold Club, began at 6 p.m. The Purple and Gold club developed a photo scavenger hunt that could be completed in teams of two. The first 100 students who completed the scavenger hunt got a free Banana Night t-shirt. Some of the items on the scavenger hunt list included “the arch that whispers,” “a place where parking is free,” and “take a selfie with a worker in the library.”
“Banana Day was definitely a success because of the amount of student involvement on campus,” said Sadow. “People seemed to be impressed with the shirts and even if someone did not win a shirt, they still had fun playing the games, which is what Banana Day is all about.”
Clare Haggerty is a third-year student majoring in English. She can be reached at CH77342@wcupa.edu.