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Chi
,→The Early Years (Excerpted from The History of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity: 1870 to 1976)
It became customary for the chapter to entertain friends in their rooms after the football games. After the chapter house was built in 1916, these small gatherings developed into large open houses, with music, dancing and refreshment. This post-game practice was maintained generally - with the exception of the years of the two Great Wars - until the end of the 1950s.
Another traditional open house took place on New Year's Day. First held in the homes of alumnae or parents, later in the chapter house, this tradition persisted for 25 years after the turn of the century. Members of all Greek societies, the alumnae, the faculty, and special friends were usually invited to this reception. Often well over 200 arrived. It was a formal occasion, replete with orchestra, dancing, receiving line - most of which today's students would find very strange, indeed.
Another custom foreign to Chis of today was the German, or all-girl cotillion. Such occasions were usually reserved for rushing parties, for they entailed considerable preparation and planning. They took place in the ballrooms of members' homes, with music and dancing and refreshments served downstairs at intermission time. The girls spent weeks preparing favors, usually splendid tissue-paper contrivances, as gifts to their guests. The passing of the German after 1910 marked the end of an era.
Halloween parties and the Senior Picnic in the spring seem to be the only occasions that remain virtually unchanged from Chi's founding to this day. The chapter still celebrates Halloween, although the entertainment has altered in 90 years. The Senior Picnic seems not to have changed much at all, for the girls still enjoy skits, singing, baseball games, and occasional fortune-telling as their predecessors did. The picnic has customarily been held at the lake home of one of the active members, so from the earliest days, swimming and boating were enjoyed.
For 60 years - through the 1930s - an annual houseparty was the highlight of each year. During the heyday of the hosueparty (1900-1920), it became a full week's sojourn at a resort near Prior Lake. One of the cottages was even named "Fleur-de-lis," honoring Chi's annual pilgrimage. Originally, both alumnae and actives (and chaperone, of course) went together for days of hiking, baseball, tennis, boating, bathing, and fun. The girls welcomed the arrival of their beaux for the final weekend, which was capped by dancing and hilarity. Alice Trimble (de Veau) recorded in 1908: "Chi has been an entrepreneur throughout the years. In 1890, the entire community was roused to support Kappa in its sponsor ship of Locke Richardson's readings of Shakespeare- in that time quite an unprecedented undertaking for a small group of young ladies. But the astonishing profit of $80 was realized, so well-patronized was the event. In 1891, Mr. Richardson's success was repeated, and in 1894 Chi sponsored a lecture by Swami Vive Kanadi, Member of the Parliament."
In 1914, a joint alumnae-active venture, the Kappa Christmas Bazaar, netted $200 for the fund to begin a chapter house. The next year, a vaudeville was presented by the actives. This grew into a combination of the two: the Kappa Fair, with items for sale, vaudeville presentation in the afternoon, and dancing in the evening. In 1920, the fair netted $1200, but by this time it was sponsored completely by the alumnae. The vaudeville, however, continued under chapter auspices. The 1924 version of these Follies was held at the Women's Club of Minneapolis. University men supported the Kappas in the production: "Martin Koon Bovey and his choristers were deluged with cabbage and tomatoes in the first act, but the audience behaved nicely after that."
In 1916, Chi members were performing their skits before children at settlement houses, but by the mid-twenties chapter social service was assuming a more personal relationship.
==Highlights of 2011==