Extinct Tradition

The States Dinner was among the most colorful of Cottey traditions, when students dressed to represent their state while entertaining each other with skits, songs, and poetry. Members of each state or region sat together in Main Hall's dining room. Missourians, being the largest group, always gathered at the long central table.¹ The festive dinner evolved out of the State Clubs, which were organized early in Cottey's history to stimulate enrollment.⁵ The dinner was also an outgrowth of the states-themed masquerade party held in Neale Hall in 1922.² The States Dinner was popular from the 1920s to the 1950s, and became an annual tradition by 1935.¹

At the dinner, each state or group of states "planned table decorations and a skit to typify their state."⁵ They performed these skits for their fellow classmates while members of the faculty waited tables. Awards were given for the best skit, costumes, and table décor. The loving cup ― a special award ― was given to the state with the highest percentage increase in enrollment since the previous year.⁴ Above all else, the States Dinner was full of good-humor and friendly competition. The 1949 Cottey annual staff put it succinctly when they remarked, "Of course each state is the best―but listen to us argue it out."³