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Next February marks the 100th anniversary of Michigan Tech’s Winter Carnival. The logo was unveiled recently, drawn by Rachel May, and it brings the annual event back to its roots. A ferris wheel, a roller coaster that looks like something out of New York’s Coney Island, and a merry-go-round sit in the foreground with the silhouette of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge and several campus buildings accenting the design.
The theme is, “Come one, come all…” Tech’s Winter Carnival began as a legitimate fair put on by students. Dee Stadium was always a stop, but it went to the Calumet Colosseum, and in some years, as far away as Sault Ste. Marie. The traveling show was seen as a way to drum up interest in the university at a time when there were no ferries coming across the Straits of Mackinac, or a suspension bridge.
The original carnivals were expensive to produce and only lasted for a handful of years. The current iteration of Winter Carnival dates to 1934 when the Blue Key chapter began to organize it.
