Greekfest
Folks from around these parts both young and old are very familiar with the annual tradition of the Drake Relays Stepshow. Even if it isn't what it once was, everyone knows that come Drake Relays weekend, historically Black frats and sororities are going to have a good old-fashioned stompdown somewhere on the Drake campus. What many folks don't know is there was a time when that stepshow wasn't the only stepshow that folks looked forward to around these parts.
Greekfest was an event that was native to the Iowa State campus. It was always held around November sometime while Drake Relays always fell in April. For that reason, I'm fairly certain that Greekfest probably began with the idea in mind that it would serve as sort of a warm-up for the Iowa State frats and sororities to get prepared for the Relays stepshow. Although Greekfest was also different in the aspect that it only featured organizations from Iowa State. So it was ultimately a chance for us to show out and show up for our own campus.
The event slowly began to evolve over the years to the point where it was a reunion of sorts. Brothas and sistas that had since graduated would make it a point to come visit on that weekend. It gave them a chance to catch up with old acquaintances while still being able to see who had the tightest stepshow on the yard. For a while there, we considered it the ISU Black Homecoming. There was never anything official about it. It just became common knowledge that come Greekfest
weekend, you could count on seeing familiar faces from the past.
A funny thing happened throughout the years. Greekfest slowly started getting bigger in popularity than the Relays stepshows. There was a time when organizations would only step at Greekfest and pass on the Relays stepshows. The reason being because Greekfest began to get more competitive. VERY competitive. What started out as an exhibition became a paid competition. Then every organization became focused on winning Greekfest as it would give your organization bragging rights on the yard. As well as a decent little cash award.
The picture you see was taken at Greekfest 1991. Special thanks to frat Joel (alias Pyramid Stalker) for providing it. I used to have a video of our show from this year, but have conceded that it is somehow gone for good after being unable to locate it for years. As I look at this pic, it brings back all the glorious hours of blood, sweat and tears that we put in to prepare for that show. I can remember the late night grueling practices. The countless hours of trying to teach my LB Mike one step in particular that took him forever to get right.
We were just as driven as every other frat on the yard was to win Greekfest. Every year, it seemed to be a showdown between us and the Sigmas. It was a given that each year our organizations would bring something new to the table to up the ante. The Omegas had a couple of years where they deviated from their norm and made a good run. The Kappas? Well they provided good comic relief every now and then. Nevertheless, you could pretty much always count on the same top two.
What's most significant about this picture is it represents our first victory as Greekfest stepshow champions. It just so happened to be the first year they had it as a competition as opposed to an exhibition. It began a streak of victories at Greekfest that would span 7 years. It got to the point where after winning so many years in a row, the Greekfest organizers eventually decided to switch it back to being an exhibition again. Then organizations decided to stop participating. Then the eventual death of Greekfest.
There was talk of bringing Greekfest back a couple of years ago, but the planning never materialized and it eventually fell through. It probably doesn't help too much that the Drake Relays stepshow has lost so much of its luster. It probably also has a lot to do with the fact that the mentality of today's Black greek's around this area is much different than it was back in the more competitive years. So for now, we have pictures like these and our eternal memories that will remind us of the days when one event was able to energize a community.
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