Starvation Gulch 2023

By Wetherleigh Griffin 

Every September literally ends with a bang here at UAF!

Starvation Gulch 2022. Photo by Manuel A. Melendez

The student-run Traditions Board leads the charge into the thick of the fall semester with Starvation Gulch. Starvation Gulch typically takes place during the last weekend of September, and is full of events, music, and community (and bonfire) building. Nowadays, teams of students compete to build the coolest and tallest structures out of pallets, hoping to win the coveted Big Ass Trophy after setting the structures ablaze.

Starvation Gulch was started in 1923 by UAF’s first president, Charles E. Bunnell. Students back then would construct an entire town out of wood and then burn it down at the end of the week. Today, one hundred years later, Starvation Gulch may look different, but it still holds the same spirit of the passing of knowledge and student unity. It is also, certainly, much safer!

Not everything about Starvation Gulch has been smooth sailing. In 1956, there was a series of alcohol-fueled fights that led then-president of UAF Ernest Patty to ban alcohol on campus. Infuriated students created the Tradition Stone, which read “Here Lies Tradition, 1957.” The stone quickly became a cornerstone (no pun intended) of Traditions. For many years, part of Traditions culture was to steal the concrete slab for your student organization. Unfortunately, the stone went missing sometime in 2016. There was a sighting of it in 2021 by a former student, but it has yet to resurface to the public. Some students have moved on to make new traditions, but others are still holding out hope for the stone to be found.

Starvation Gulch 2023 is September 21st-23rd, with the bonfires starting at 9pm on Saturday the 23rd. For more information about participating or the schedule, check out the Traditions Board page on Nanook Engage!

Wetherleigh is a senior Linguistics student from Kodiak, AK and works in the Student Activities and Orientation Office