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The Echo
Taylor University, Upland, IN
Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024
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The Echo
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College men, a melon and a gourd

By Gracie Fairfax

College men running around campus with giant fruit is a reality at Taylor . This is Melon and Gourd-a week-long game of tag that is an annual tradition of Third West Wengatz (3WW). All week, the men of 3WW are on edge as they try their best to remain untagged. It is not a game to be taken lightly. It requires skill, athleticism, alertness, strategy and creativity.

The week of terror was created in the early '90s by Third Westers Sid Zell ('97) and Aaron Miller ('98) and has grown in popularity over time. Melon and Gourd week happens annually and begins at midnight on a Sunday, ending the festivities on Friday at Chapel.

Here are the basics to the game: there is one melon and one gourd. Whoever has the melon or the gourd is tagged. If they are inside a building or touching a door handle that is attached to a building, they are safe. Car door handles don't count and they have to be holding the melon or the gourd in order to tag someone.

They have to go to chapel and they have to enter through the front doors. On Friday, the end of the the festive week, the men have to enter chapel between 9:40 and 9:55, according to junior Tyler Dresbach. At the end of the week, the men who hold the fruit have to eat a piece of it. While the men of Third West are not required to participate, the majority of the wing does. "I'm excited to see all of the excellence that is on Third West displayed all week through various athletic outlets - just to see how everyone interacts with each other and to see blood, sweat and tears on display all week," Charlie Richert said. Richert, a sophomore, was abroad in Ireland his freshman fall semester and is ready to experience his first Melon and Gourd week. This is a week when normal college life goes on the back burner. Nothing is more important to these men than to avoid the famous fruit. The game gets intense. His freshman year, Dresbach chipped his tooth. Third West men are seen carrying the duct-taped fruit that continues to fall apart amidst the action. There is even a Twitter page that includes frequent updates on the event, complete with photos of melon and gourd sightings. "During melon and gourd you can't just run around outside, which I liked to do as a freshman, and I like to play Frisbee a lot. One day I was just outside of Wengatz throwing the disc around and. . . Josh Bate (a senior on the wing) threw a Frisbee ,and once I saw the Frisbee I just had to get it. . . then I looked down and Chris Sereno (a junior on the wing) had tagged me. So if you want to tag me in melon and gourd, just throw a Frisbee," senior Caleb Smith said. "I'm most scared about trying to get into the doorways. I don't want to be scared by anyone jumping out," said sophomore Austin Munn, who was also abroad in Ireland his freshman fall semester. Friday, Oct. 4, at chapel is the moment of truth, when the men of Third West come up with creative ways to get into the chapel safe and sound. Once they touch the chapel door handles, they are officially safe and the game ends for them. Other Taylor students arrive early, surrounding the chapel entrance in order to catch a glimpse of the action. "My freshman year, I dressed up as a campus police officer, and I had two guys stage a fight in front of the front door. While they were fighting, me and three other officers rushed in to break up the fight and at the last second I veered off for the door handle," senior Braden Conn said. Many go to great lengths to ensure their safety. "When my grandparents came, my grandma dressed me up as a grandma with gray hair and I walked in with my grandpa. It was really cool. We just slipped right in there with my grandpa," Smith said. "I got into the chapel last year as Barack Obama, the President of the United States of America," sophomore Mark Muselman said. Third West has yet to disappoint the Taylor audience with their creative chapel entrances and frantic sprinting across campus. For some, Friday may mark the end of a long week, but for these men, Friday marks the freedom from the fruit that quickly became their worst enemy.
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