Volume 26 · Number 1 · Fall 2008
Lost Traditions
Aquacade
When Marya Welch joined the faculty in 1947–48 to start a women’s athletic program, there were only 80–90 female students. Nearly every one of those women signed up for the first Aquacade that spring—whether they could swim or not. Those who couldn’t swim helped stage the synchronized swim, live music and poolside variety show and it quickly became a Picnic Day favorite. Male students got on board, too, performing stunts, skits, magic tricks and other acts. Admission in the early years was a quarter. “We had long, long lines,” Welch said. “We had special bleachers put around the pool deck. We couldn’t hold everybody who was there.” Welch oversaw the Aquacade through 1959, before turning it over to other coaches, who coordinated it until the early 1990s.