“Hey Day” just said ‘bye!’ until next year. Auburn University’s oldest and debatably, most famous, tradition took place on Oct. 7, and ended as yet another campus event success.

Sophie Burge, a sophomore at Auburn and this year’s director of “Hey Day,” proved that dedication, teamwork and an undying devotion for Auburn and its students are what carry tradition. As she looked back on the event, Burge was more than satisfied with its outcome.

“So much goes into planning the event,” Burge said. “Things you don’t even realize, like securing a location. We’ve been planning since last April and it’s been so much fun. The turnout was great, location was awesome. Everything just turned out perfect.”

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“Hey Day” dates back to World War II and since then, has evolved into a campus wide tradition that celebrates friendship.

The day is set aside to promote the friendly and welcoming atmosphere that Auburn is known for. The premise is to say ‘hey’ to fellow students and teachers while walking on campus. Name tags are distributed and free food and drinks are handed out at various spots on the concourse.

Each year has a different theme. This year, Burge and her assistants, Dennis McKeen and Claire Chapman, came up with the theme, “Peace.Love.Hey Day!”

“We came up with ‘Peace.Love.Hey Day!’ because Auburn has such a chill atmosphere,” Burge said. “Everyone loves each other and is friendly to one another. So we thought, ‘why not’?”

This year brought a few significant differences that benefitted and improved the tradition. One of the main differences compared to previous years was that the Student Government Association (SGA) teamed up with University Programs Council (UPC) to host the event. Burge came up with the idea to tie-dye T-shirts in addition to the free food and entertainment.

“It was actually quite coincidental that we teamed with UPC,” Burge said. “I thought of the idea to tie-dye T-shirts, so I called to reserve Cater Lawn for that purpose, but UPC had already reserved Cater Lawn for a tie-dye T-shirt workshop. I called UPC, and we decided to team together for ‘Hey Day’ which worked out really well.”

The location ended up as another change from previous years. “Hey Day” took place on the Green Space, the new tailgating lawn next to the stadium. This was Auburn’s first campus event held there, and it brought a lot of positive to the outcome. It went hand-in-hand with the chill theme and since the Green Space is right next to the Student Center, a lot of faculty and students participated in “Hey Day.”

“Even though it rained it all came together, and the rain even went with the ‘hippy-ish’ theme,” Burge said.

Food, drinks and entertainment from different campus organizations like AU Rhythm were still evident, as in previous years.

“So many businesses and restaurants donated,” Burge said. “We had a lot of variety of food and made sure it was replenished at the top of each hour.”

Restaurants such as Niffer’s, Chick-fil-A, Firehouse Subs, Papa Johns, Hungry Howies, Little Caesars, Jimmy Johns, Panera and Tiger Catering provided food for the event.

Among the tie-dying, food, entertainment and friends, Burge couldn’t decide what her favorite part of the day was.

“The whole day was a lot of fun,” Burge said, “But I just loved standing back and looking at everyone. I was like, ‘Wow, this is awesome!’ There were so many people there and willing to help. It was just a good representation of Auburn’s campus.”