What good would a student-run festival and celebration be without a catchy name? Veishea was the name of choice, stemming from the university’s five colleges: Veterinary medicine, Engineering, Industrial Science, Home Economics and Agriculture. The name was conceptualized by Professor Frank “Shorty” Paine, professor of electrical engineering and later head of the general engineering department. He also served as an adviser to the Veishea Central Committee.

Before the first Veishea, there were several individual spring events that were celebrated by the university’s different colleges. The St. Patrick’s Day parade was a big event for engineering students, agriculture students held the Ag Carnival, the home economics division celebrated HEC Day and May Day was a festival enjoyed by all. By combining these events into one big celebration, the university was able to preserve tradition without taking so much time away from students’ course work.

With the dawn of the second Veishea in 1923, a new tradition was started. Male freshmen at this time were required to don red beanies, making them instantly identifiable. To garner class pride, student held a mock graduation at Veishea in which freshmen threw their beanies into a bonfire, marking their status as sophomores. The event was axed in 1934.

Stars Over VEISHEA is another long-standing Veishea staple, when it was originally known as the “Nite Show.” From the beginning, students performed student-written and directed plays, but that soon fell by the wayside as it became too much of a burden on students. It was renamed Stars Over VEISHEA in 1939 and moved to CY Stephens Auditorium in 1970. Some of the performances at Stars Over VEISHEA include “Melody Magic,” “Brigadoon,” “The Music Man” and “Fiddler On the Roof.”

For more than eight decades, Veishea has been there throughout U.S. history. Some Veishea events were toned down or canceled in 1933 because of the Depression, and again in 1943 through 1945 because of World War II. Veishea was canceled altogether for the first time in 2005, because of intense rioting the year before.