Calvin University is 150 years old, and to commemorate its history, the university hosted a homecoming weekend full of riveting activities. Homecoming weekend brought alumni, students and families to fill the campus with joyful celebration. Friday, Sept. 26, featured the annual Bed Races, a Cornhole Tournament and a 150th Anniversary Extravaganza and Commons Cookout. The evening came to a close with The Worldly Amusements, a Calvin coverband. Saturday morning, Calvin hosted its annual Calvin Classic 5K and Youth Fun Run, with options for handcycling and virtual runs. Homecoming and Family Weekend is an important tradition at Calvin, initially organized in 1952 and celebrated every year since to honor Calvin’s history.
According to the Calvin website, Calvin was founded in 1876 by the Christian Reformed Church, originally as a school of ministry training for Dutch immigrants, with only seven students in attendance. When founded, it held the name “De Theologische School.” In 1931, Calvin shifted from being two separate entities -– John Calvin Junior College and Calvin Theological Seminary — to a four-year college. Finally, in 2019, Calvin College changed its name to Calvin University to highlight the institution’s thorough academic programs. Now, the university has over 3,800 students and is expanding.
Between the Bed Races and Cornhole tournament, Calvin has many winners in its midst. The Bed Races featured seven unique teams, including the Holy Cows, Slumber Thunder, SE Stinky Boys, Holy Rollers, the Donut Dashers, the Zoomers and Team Nepal. Two teams at a time raced their modified rolling beds — with a student lying on the bed — down Knollcrest Circle, around a barrel and back to the finish line. Slumber Thunder and the Holy Rollers advanced to the finale, with Slumber Thunder claiming the win by just two seconds and taking home a $500 cash prize. Judged by University Pastor Mary Hulst, the Best Costume Award went to the Holy Cows.
The 150th Anniversary Extravaganza, held on Commons Lawn, featured three food trucks and seven different bounce house games. The three food trucks featured were Big Mike’s Kettle Corn, Waffle Stix and Furniture City Creamery. Students had the options of gourmet popcorn, waffle sticks covered in savory toppings or vegan-friendly, made-from-scratch ice cream. The entirety of the night, the ice cream line remained the longest, giving Furniture City Creamery the title of the most popular food truck.
Amidst a full Commons Lawn of students and families, there was no shortage of entertainment, between life-sized Hungry Hungry Hippos, racing bounce houses and even a bounce house featuring an inflatable wrecking ball. Anyone from toddlers to older community members were able to take advantage of the many different bounce houses, with some geared towards the little ones and others made for older guests. The lawn was covered with lawn chairs and picnic blankets, with music echoing across campus all evening.
The Commons Cookout gave students, families and faculty the opportunity to eat their dinner either inside or out on Commons lawn. The cookout featured pulled pork, Alabama BBQ boneless chicken, macaroni-and-cheese and smoked redskin potatoes, among other savory foods.
At the end of the evening, the Worldly Amusements took to the stage. The Worldly Amusements featured cover songs from bands that have played at Calvin in the past sixty to seventy years. To the audience’s surprise, the first song featured was “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond, who played at Calvin University on Feb. 13, 1970. The band also featured music by Hootie & the Blowfish, a rock band from 1986 that performed at Calvin University in the 1990s.
To continue the 150th anniversary celebration, Calvin hosted its annual Calvin Classic 5K Run/Walk at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27. Students, families, faculty and the surrounding community were invited to join. The race wound throughout campus streets, offering runners a relatively flat course. Supporters lined the streets to cheer on runners, with Joust congratulating finishers as soon as they crossed the line. Medals were awarded to the top three winners in each age group. The overall first, second and third place winners for the women were Clara Fast (21:02.55), Kristin Haartman (22:10.20) and Elice Davey (22:20.40), and for the men were Rick Koubek (15:53.24), Nicholas Henz (16:46.54) and Matthew Billette (17:29.84), respectively. With regards to handcycling, Tom Weaver, age 75, took first place, with a time of 12:47.44. Renae Severn ran the race virtually from Washington state, with a time of 29:14.
Homecoming weekend, while honoring the past with its long-standing traditions like Bed Races and the 5K, also pointed towards Calvin’s next chapter with excitement, hope and intentionality. The university’s 150-year history is marked by a commitment to thinking deeply, acting justly and living wholeheartedly as Christ’s agents of renewal in the world — a legacy still shaping the present moment.
