OSU students host harvest carnival, the longest homecoming tradition

Oct. 25—Oklahoma State University's student body hosted harvest carnival at the Payne County Expo Center on Tuesday from 6-8 p.m.

OSU's harvest carnival is the tradition that initially began America's greatest homecoming. Harvest carnival is planned and conducted by OSU students — including Greek houses, residential halls, and student organizations — specifically for kids to attend and enjoy the carnival atmosphere.

Kids in numerous Halloween costumes scattered throughout the expo center, a smile on each of their faces. It was those behind the scenes who worked endless hours to construct the perfect carnival game who could take credit for the joy that filled the room.

Matthew Moore, a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity — who is paired with the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi for homecoming — said that it was a great reward to see each of the kids having fun at the booth.

Moore said his organization's game was based on the overall homecoming theme Year of the Cowboy, which celebrates 100 years of the OSU mascot, Pistol Pete.

"Where Pistol Pete got his name from was a marksman competition, so we took that and ran with it," Moore said. "We have a nerf gun and they get to shoot the cards down. Each card has trivia questions relating back to Stillwater, OSU and Pistol Pete."

The game was set up similarly to the well-known water gun game, in which individuals shoot water out of a water gun and try to hit the target. The target, in this instance, were educational cards that contained trivia questions.

The planning took a while, but once the fraternity and sorority had all the supplies needed, it only took two or three days to build the game, Moore said.

College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology student Ashley Holland, who represented CEAT student council, took a more educational approach to harvest carnival, rather than building the typical carnival game.

Holland had previously worked with students in STEM students in K-12th grades. Kids enjoy having the freedom to choose what they desire. Therefore, Holland, and her group, decided to allow the kids at their table to have free rein on building a glider.

"We have three different models that we showed the kids as they walked up," Holland said. "One just has two small loops on either end of the straw, one has three loops — one on either end and one in the middle — and the one that technically flies the best has one small loop on one side and a big loop on the back."

The kids were presented all three options and asked which glider they thought would fly the best. Then, the kids were provided with the materials to make the gliders and test them out.

Holland said it was fun to see kids get competitive with their siblings or friends, seeing whose glider would end up flying the best.

"(The game) doesn't look as appealing as some of the carnival games, but to be able to teach some of the early STEM principles — and even if they don't fully understand all the drag and lift that makes some models fly better than others — to be able to have that early curiosity and the drive to ... start thinking about (STEM), whether they really know the science behind it or not, is the foundation of a lot of kids interest going into STEM fields," Holland said.

Another OSU student, Ashton Parkey of Kappa Kappa Gamma — with homecoming pairing Alpha Gamma Rho — said that she had been planning her organization's game since the middle of September.

Parkey said it was important to her team that they pull on the aspects of education and history within their carnival game, allowing the game to be educational and fun for the kids.

The game presented was Honor of the Hat, a typical test-your-strength carnival game. Kids could hit anywhere from zero to 100, representing the beginning of Pistol Pete through true cowboy Frank Eaton to the 100-year anniversary of OSU's mascot.

"We really just wanted to showcase more of the history of Pete starting from Frank Eaton ... going through some of the people who got to be Pistol Pete and how they embodied a lot of characteristics that Frank Eaton left behind, all the way up to 100 years — showing that 96 men have now been Pete," Parkey said.

Parkey said that once kids finish Honor of the Hat, they are directed toward a different game that allows them a bit of freedom to think about the meaning of Pistol Pete and Frank Eaton.

" ... They get to rope a hat and they get to pick their own hat," Parkey said. "Just like every single person that has worn the hat of Pete, they got to pick what kind of aspects they wanted to carry into that, so the kids get to pick their own aspect of what they want to carry out of this."

Kids were not the only ones playing carnival games though. Makinley Kennedy, OSU's recently announced 2023 homecoming queen, decided to play some of the games herself — including milking a cow, a lasso game and multiple rounds of ski ball.

Kennedy said that harvest carnival was a great opportunity to interact with the kids of the Stillwater community.

"What we're here for is to just walk around, mingle with everybody, kind of talk with them, be representatives for the university and for homecoming as a whole," Kennedy said. "It's a really cool time because it is one of the only events with kids in the Stillwater community, so that just kind of adds an added fun aspect to it."

Paired with the harvest carnival is OSU's homecoming week chili cook-off. Many residential organizations, student organizations and community organizations competed in this tradition.

Makayla Schneider, with Oklahoma Collegiate Cattlewomen said that her team had prepared for the event all day.

"We made 10 batches of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association chili," Schneider said.

By the end of the night, Schneider's team was on their last batch of chili, with only half the batch left.

The harvest carnival and chili cook-off is a great way for OSU students to get involved in the Stillwater community. It is evident during the entirety of the event that every person in attendance is excited to be there and be a part of OSU's longest-lasting homecoming tradition.