By 1911 SMµ÷˝ĚËů-Boulder’s women had decided the time was right for a major campus building of their own, one with parlors, bedrooms, a dining room and a gymnasium. To raise money, the SMµ÷˝ĚËů Women’s League planned a spring festival called May Fete.
The event, held until 1925, was at heart about music and dancing. As this photograph from the SMµ÷˝ĚËů Heritage Museum attests, it was also an occasion for creative costuming, often with a fairy-tale theme — here, Snow White.
Auto shows, operettas, weight-guessing games and various other amusements helped raise money. Illuminated boats drifted on Varsity Lake.
A World War I construction ban and rising costs scuttled plans for the new building. The League instead put the $15,000 it raised toward Macky Auditorium’s pipe organ.
In 1925 the Fete gave way to an annual dance. A large residence hall for women was finally built in 1934. You’d know it as Sewall Hall.Â
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Then: April 4, 1968
Then: 1935
THEN — July 31, 1919
