So, Slope Day started in 1890 and has very much evolved over the years. I did a little research just for the sake of this post. You're welcome.
In 1890, Slope Day began by the celebration of the Navy Ball. In the early 1900's it came to be known as "Spring Day", a celebration of the end of winter and the hope of warmer weather. In Ithaca, this is a big deal. By the 70's slope day began to be known as "Springfest" and moved to Libe Slope. It was during this time that alcohol began to be a part of the tradition. In 1980, Cornell tried to move "Springfest" from the Slope to North Campus to which a huge student movement took over with the slogan "Take Back The Slope!" It was during this time that the tradition was affectionately renamed "Slope Day."
Slope Day is the day after classes end every year. It is preceded by at least one, if not two, full days of drinking, so that everyone is thoroughly drunk by the time Slope Day actually arrives. Cornell brings in artists, food, alcohol, there is a concert and everyone eats, drinks, dances on the Slope. Basically all the things that 2 Nephi warns us against-- "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die and it shall be well with us." Three years ago the headliner was Kendrick Lamar, then Ludacris, last year was Chance the Rapper and Magic (why you gotta be so rudeeeee...) It seems that rappers are all our future holds here at Cornell when it comes to Slope Day. But for those of us who don't drink (aka Kyle and I...and that's it haha) and still attend Slope Day, a good Billy Joel or John Mayer wouldn't be unwelcome. It is still fun to see these concerts that I would never actually pay to go to otherwise--even if it isn't necessarily my favorite type of music. Kyle and I both still enjoy it.
So now that you know what Slope Day is: Our Slope Day was just a blast. We headed to the Slope at 11, got some food, R-City went on at 12 (If I got locked away and we lost it all today, tell me honestly would you still love me the sammmeeee....). We were right in the front for R-City dancing our little lives away and screaming like crazed teenage girls. It was great. I direct you to the youtube video posted below. Click forward to about 1 minute to see what it is like once the concerts start. When you are in the front, you are engulfed by people. It is HOT. People open water bottles and fling them everywhere, so you will inevitably get wet. That might sound miserable, but it is surprisingly so much fun! These are experiences that we will only get to have here. That makes them special to me.
After R-City finished we muscled our way out of the crowd and retreated to free snow cones and bottles of water. Then we sat on the slope, away from the dancing crowd to join the sitting crowd. We found a shady spot and just watched drunk people do drunk things, like fall over, or pass out, or throw up, or all of the above. There are a lot of volunteers on Slope Day whose only job (I'm not joking) is to walk around with orange flags and wave them when they find people who are throwing up or passed out, so the EMT's can drag them away. Plus, you must remember that we are on a literal SLOPE, so watching drunk people try to walk down a slope? So comical.
We headed home around 3 after enduring Cash-Cash (I do not recommend him. Bleh). We missed Walk the Moon (Shut up and dance with meeeee...), which is actually a bummer, but we were both exhausted from being in the sun for so many hours. We both returned home with some very red sunburns.
Then it snowed on Sunday. Welcome to Ithaca. HAPPY SLOPE DAY!
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