Starvation Gulch ignites campus this September
By Louis Seymour
Axton Siekmann and Sammy Manley discuss their plans to build a large cowboy boot for the College of Engineering and Mines.
This September, Nanook Traditions hosted UAF’s 103rd Starvation Gulch, a campus tradition dating back to 1923. The annual festival has undergone many changes over the years, beginning as a student-built bonfire designed to resemble a frontier town. Since then, Starvation Gulch has served as an outlet for celebration and rebellion alike.
This year’s festival featured three days of student activities, concluding with the annual bonfire.
The bonfires at Starvation Gulch roar late into the night, while students gather to watch.
Whether jousting on bikes or dancing to country music, students took advantage of the festivities from the start. Despite wet conditions, students gathered outside the Wood Center for bike jousting. Mounted on bikes and wielding foam swords, participants swung at one another as onlookers gathered around. Rain failed to dampen the festivities, and the sun made an appearance on the final day.
On the festival’s final morning, students braved muddy conditions on lower campus to build this year’s bonfire. Among the pallet structures were a pirate ship, two cowboy boots and a sign reading “UAF.” The construction brought students from across campus together, with teams from Chi Alpha, the Honors College and the University Fire Department participating.
Students gather closely around the concert stage at Starvation Gulch.
Later that evening, with students crowded behind the fire barrier, the University Fire Department lit the pallets. The bonfire, which began as a symbolic “passing of the torch” to new students, looks different today. No longer constructed and lit haphazardly by students, the bonfire has become a more organized celebration of the tradition.
As the fire burned, students gathered around the stage for music and dancing. Those not gathered around the fire crowded near the stage, and the celebration lasted well into the night, concluding another year of one of UAF’s most storied traditions.