As spring break rapidly approaches, I hurry to gather all the necessities. Alcohol? Check. Hawaiian Tropicî oil? (mmm cocoanutty) Check. Liter of Astroglideî? Double check! And I think to myself, this can’t have been how it always was.
Was spring break really created as a week of delicious decadence?
In reality I am a complete nerd who is transparently pale, hates the sand (it gets in weird crevices, okay?) and likes to research the origins of popular holidays. That makes for a perfect column of how this “spring break” really came to be.
Someone told me Socrates invented spring break because he noticed younger folk had the urge to frolic as winter slowly dissipated. They said Socrates told the other elders of Athens and soon a rite to welcome spring began.
That’s crazy talk. Well maybe it isn’t, but I certainly could not find any evidence to back it up. Let me know if you can.
If you wanted to make a thank-you card for the creator of spring break, address it to: Mr. Ingram, Colgate College, New York. Back in 1935, a swim coach, Sam Ingram, worried that the swimmers were becoming fatties from all that winter break cookin’ and celebratin’. A student’s father who lived in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., told Ingram all about Casino pool, Florida’s first Olympic-size pool that opened in 1928. After some thought, Ingram took his team to train in a larger city, in a larger pool.
Soon the popularity of training in a warmer climate really caught on. Ingram and local officials organized an annual trip called the Aquatic Forum, which was later renamed College Swim Forum. By 1938, more than 300 swimmers were traveling to Fort Lauderdale to compete, bringing family and friends along for the trip.
Fort Lauderdale’s milkshake was bringing all the boys to the yard. Not as much the milkshakes as the pool. But I’m sure the milkshakes were fantastic as well. Anyway, the word was spreading about Fort Lauderdale being a sun-kissed “vaca” escape from the colder weather up North. By the 1950s, more than 20,000 students packed up for Florida each year.
Eventually the media tapped into this new trend with the 1959 article in Time “Beer and the Beach” and the 1960s film “Where the Boys Are” which was set in, of course, Fort Lauderdale! And guess who was in it? (hint: who is the tannest person ever?) George Hamilton! Omg!
Fort Lauderdale continued to be the spring break hotspot until the late ’80s. Attendance for spring break peaked after the release of the film “Spring Break” in 1984, which brought about 350,000 people to the area. One of my personal favorite quotes from the movie: “Beer’s like … f–ing great, ya know?”
Yeah, buddy, I do know.
Because of the overcrowding from the partying mob, the city was completely OVER IT! The city passed stricter laws against public drinking, and the mayor, Bob Cox, went as far as telling students they were no longer welcome on “Good Morning America.” Yikes!
So the popularity spread to other areas that are more common today: Daytona Beach, Gulf Shores, South Padre, Cancun and – if you are lucky enough – Fiji. We students are either welcomed with open arms that hope we throw loads of cash at them or shunned for having two goals: getting drunk and getting some tail.
Not everyone’s spring break is about partying. There are plenty of mission trips, community service excursions (hey, hey Alternative Spring Break) adventure journeys or people who just stay home and go to work – but they are still overwhelmingly the minority.
Whether you deepen your tan, hit it, perfect your needlepoint, bond with some friends, celebrate Passover or Easter, or get so drunk you can’t feel feelings, have a delicious time. Be safe, and bring your liter of Astroglideî (preferably the pump).
 
Laura is a communication studies senior. Contact her at [email protected]