Credit: Northwestern University Student Affairs
While the all-campus tradition of Dillo Day started in the 1970s, Northwestern students have been celebrating the much-anticipated arrival of spring since the early days of the University.
From the early 1900s to 1969, students gathered around the maypole and participated in traditional May Day—or Mayfete—festivities, which culminated in the crowning of “May Queen.” The event evolved into May Week and included activities like cotillions, honors ceremonies, freshman carnivals, and women’s sings.
By the 1970s, however, the counter-culture movement was sweeping the nation, and students’ interests were shifting. This is when Dillo Day—now the largest student-run music festival in the nation—began to take shape.
Credit: Northwestern University Archives
According to the University Archives and a Northwestern magazine article, there are different opinions about when Dillo Day started.
In 1973, two students from Texas banded together to form Armadillo Productions—named after the Lone Star state’s mammalian mascot and an Austin music venue. These self-described “leftist hippie types” organized an event on May 13, 1973, that they called The First Annual “I Don’t Think We’re in Kansas Anymore” Festival and Fair.
Student volunteers made T-shirts and papered the Evanston campus with fliers that outlined their plan to create an atmosphere of “magic and unreality” with costumes, games, a treasure hunt, and special events.
But two years earlier on May 30, 1971, an all-campus party took place that included five live bands and kegs of beer, an illegal commodity in then-dry Evanston.
More than four decades later, Dillo Day is now a modern mash-up of past celebrations. Northwestern’s lakefront music festival is organized by student group Mayfest Productions, and it features live music, food trucks, arts-centric activities, and plenty of peace signs and tie-dye. It’s open to all members of the Northwestern and Evanston community who purchase a wristband.
Credit: Justin Barbin
Leading up to Dillo Day, Mayfest also hosts special events like MAYHEM, a variety show that showcases stand-up comics, improv groups, a capella singers, and a battle of the bands. T-shirts and fliers remain part of the marketing campaign, but now they’re paired with Instagram feeds, hashtags, and a Smart Dillo social media campaign that reminds attendees to behave responsibly.
Mayfest organizers work year-round to book headliners for the main stage. In recent years, Dillo Day has hosted Grammy-winning rappers like Common, Kendrick Lamar, and Chance the Rapper, as well as artists like George Clinton, OK GO, Steve Aoki, and The Decemberists.
This year's Dillo Day will be held on Saturday, June 1. Alumni can purchase an entry wristband here and learn more at dilloday.com.