Weird Parties

From ClemsonWiki

The Weird Parties were counter-culture events held once or twice a year from the summer of 1976 into the early 1980's, sponsored by a very loose association of Clemson University students who referred to themselves as the Wild Children. Members took such names as Elmira Wildchild, Wilma Wildchild, Iola Wildchild, Viola Wildchild, Karma Wildchild, Kama Wildchild, and Sister Salvation for their underground identities. Sister Salvation had a Wednesday night show on WSBF 88.1 where the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead were heavily featured.

Held in ever-changing locations (private homes, the Wildcat Creek picnic area, the Y Barn, out in the woods beyond the J.P. Stevens plant), the Weird Parties were great counter-culture events. They were so counter-culture that the Wild Children began booking spaces under the identities of many campus organizations which led to said organizations not understanding why they were being denied permission to use certain facilities, since "their" last party had been so outrageous! Imagine Halloween meeting a Grateful Dead concert and you will sort of get the idea. Merry Pranksters abounded. Costumes were worn that were sometimes obvious, othertimes extremely abstract. Many kegs were consumed and the whole effect was rather like the architecture Beaux Arts Ball on acid.

The Weird Party tradition died with the graduation of the core Wild Children in the mid-1980s.