Plans in the works for bonfire

The last time Princeton saw a bonfire — a tradition arguably associated with more pride and grandeur than any other Princeton tradition — Will Smith was still the Fresh Prince, Darius Rucker wasn't yet Hootie and Kato Kaelin was a witness, not a C-list celebrity.

But if the football team defeats Yale on Saturday in a homecoming day matchup at Princeton Stadium, Cannon Green will soon be ablaze for the first time since 1994.

It would be the 25th time the Tigers have earned a bonfire by beating both Harvard and Yale in the same season. They have come in streaks — before the present decade-long drought, Princeton was lucky enough to have four bonfires in a seven-year span. Before that period, however, Cannon Green had gone 18 years without being graced by a bonfire.

Past bonfires have been marked by burning effigies of John Harvard and the Yale Bulldog, along with an outhouse topping off the pile of wood.

"What I remember most was the enormous size of the woodpile — it had to have been 30 feet high, and it filled the entire gravel circle in Cannon Green," Peter Dutton '91 said. "The heat drove everyone to stand as close as possible to the buildings."

Many would hope that any bonfire that may appear this year would match that enormity, but planners must deal with restrictions and regulations from the Borough and Township.

Leading the effort to plan the bonfire is a student committee overseen by the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students, Thomas Dunne.

"We want to make this as inclusive as possible, and obviously — as it should be — this should be a student-directed project," Dunne said. "But we want to set parameters that make it a safe event that could continue in the future."

Much of the planning for the event is still in the formative stage. The student committee will meet for the first time tonight to discuss plans for the possible event.

As has been the tradition in years past, the bonfire would likely take place on the Thursday following the victory over Yale. Dunne mentioned, however, that considerations such as weather and other campus events must be taken into consideration before finalizing a date. Friday night would be impossible, since the football team will have already departed for its Nov. 19 game against Dartmouth.

In the search for supplies, some of the facilities shops on campus have volunteered to look for scrap wood and other materials that could be used to create the bonfire. The bonfire in the past has been constructed around a center pole, on which the wood can lean so that the wood will fall inward as it burns.

Though nothing has been decided, Dunne hopes that students can be instrumental in the construction and creation of the bonfire, noting that increased student involvement invariably leads to increased student interest in an event.

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At previous bonfires, the band has played and football captains have spoken in what amounted to a pep rally before the final game of the season. Christina Cragholm '97 remembers seeing football players addressing the crowd from a flatbed truck during the 1994 bonfire.

The program for this year will be determined primarily by the student committee, Dunne said, but he said that the committee will be mindful of the traditions of the event.

The students who play the most important role in determining the bonfire, of course, are those on the football team: without a win this Saturday against Yale, all the talk of traditions and bonfire will be for naught.

Which is precisely why the Tigers cannot afford to dwell on the thought of a bonfire until they step off the field victorious.

"We all think about it, but we don't want to jinx ourselves; we don't want to concentrate on that," senior linebacker Nate Starrett said. "We just want to focus on Yale and put all our attention on them, and the bonfire will hopefully come."

If Princeton is graced with a bonfire, all Princetonians past and present will experience a special tradition. Unlike Cane Spree or the P-Rade, which occur every year, the bonfire is a privilege. For the first time in a decade, the Tigers will head into their contest against Yale with a chance to bring this privilege back to Princeton.