In just a few days, the streets surrounding the Ave will be lined with inebriated students holding Black Out Rage Gallons, marching down the streets doing the dance of… freedom? It seems that many students view Maine Day as a moment to let loose, a time to throw off the societal norms and imposed rules of the school’s administration (and local law enforcement) and go nuts!
“Freshman year everything just felt so new,” Bryce Butterfield, a third-year mechanical engineering student, commented on his first experience with the event. “There was just a sense of chaos in the air, it just seemed like a ton was going on. I didn’t realize that it was literally just people standing in the road.” Butterfield talked about how the mythology of Maine Day had fallen through to the plain reality of what it was. However, there was still something in the air, as Butterfield put it.
It seems that students’ own perception of Maine Day as something magical and unparalleled is exactly what incites ridiculous behavior when the day finally comes (along with copious amounts of alcohol).
Because of this behavior, every year the University of Maine tries to persuade students not to go to Maine Day. The administration bribes using various methods and some professors even put mandatory or very important class events on the day of.
“Freshman year was the only time that I never had FOMO because it was raining that day,” said Adora Olise, a third-year pre-med biology student. “Dunkin’ Donuts came and I got like $70 of gift cards. There were food trucks all along Stevens Hall and you would just get a free box of food.” Despite all this, those who attend the event know that it doesn’t make a noticeable difference in attendance. Because of this, the administration has started to invest less and less in their bribery. “Last year sucked a**,” Olise concluded.
Other colleges have very similar party days. “Colby has Doghead, which is 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.,” Butterfield noted. But not every school has the same reaction. “One thing about that is the school tries to make sure students do it safe, they don’t try to discourage students from going.” Butterfield talked about his own distaste for UMaine’s reaction to and against the yearly celebration. “The students have shown that they want Maine Day and that it’s important to them. I think UMaine could do a little bit more to understand why students value it.”
“I wish the people that were obsessed with Maine Day could balance it out with some community service that week,” Olise added, bringing up what students could do differently themselves. “It used to be super community service focused. In 1935, every day of the week was a different community service event and Wednesday would be the meal packout, which we still have, but now it’s only honors students.” However, the fact remains that if such a large-scale community service project is to be enacted, it is up to the school’s administration to organize it.
No matter what happens, Maine Day is not leaving any time soon. The administration may be against it, but the tradition is now too entrenched in the culture of the school. “It’s gonna happen, it’s just a matter of where and when and is anyone going to get hurt,” Butterfield had to say. “In Maine, any gathering of people becomes a party,” Olise added. Anything that happens now will only modify what Maine Day already is.
As much skepticism and understanding as we can muster, a great number of students still plan to go, even “just to check it out.” And truly, the environment there is something different, imbued with everyone’s high expectations; a mixture of what it has been, could be and will turn out to become. Olise just asks us to keep in mind the care that Maine Day was born out of. “Remember your origins y’all.”
