For most students, Tubestock defines Sophomore Summer. However, most students know little about the annual event in its 16th year. Unlike Homecoming, Winter Carnival and Green Key weekend, Tubestock is not an official College tradition.
Although Tubestock has been the highlight of the Sophomore summer term since its conception, the event actually originated as a gathering intended for Upper Valley residents -- not Dartmouth students.
Former Chi Heorot fraternity president Richard Akerboom '80 Th '82, of Norwich, Vt., organized the first Tubestock celebration during the summer of 1987. Akerboom hosted the weekend party to entertain his friends and area residents.
An audience of around 200 people, which included some Dartmouth students, floated on various mechanisms on the Connecticut River during the first Tubestock.
Akerboom's band and other local musicians entertained the crowd from the deck of his house -- the "River Ranch."
Thereafter, the event became increasingly popular among Dartmouth students and ritualized into a Sophomore Summer tradition, taking place every third Saturday in July, though many of its traditions have changed over time.
Scott Macartney '01 recounted that elements of the weekend have changed since his experience at Tubestock in Summer 1998.
"There is a bluff above the river on the Vermont side that had a band," Macartney said. "Back then there was a guy who lived there who loved to throw the party and got the band and was a big supporter of Tubestock. He quit doing it because people were telling him that if someone drowned or got hurt that he would be responsible, so he took out an insurance policy and it was crazy expensive."
For the first 13 years of Tubestock, Akerboom sponsored the yearly occasion recruiting bands from Dartmouth, Boston and beyond to entertain the floating audience.
Three years ago, Akerboom discontinued his support of the summer event for liability issues. Akerboom's departure coupled with the lack of administrative cooperation almost ended the annual event. Yet, students' strong interest in this unofficial Dartmouth tradition has since permitted its return.
Besides individual tubes, fraternities and sororities usually construct rafts for their own members, even though the Coed, Fraternity and Sorority Council does not officially recognize Tubestock.
The party now draws a crowd of nearly 1,000 people each year who ride in just about anything that floats on the Connecticut River as they enjoy live music and drinks of questionable legality.
Since this celebration does not occur in either New Hampshire or Vermont, various illicit acts transpire, including underage drinking, that usually escape legal repercussions. Thus, the College has never officially affiliated itself with Tubestock despite the support of students, alumni, and residents.
"When I did Tubestock ... some frats had kegs that were sunken in the river to keep them cold," Macartney said.
The melange of free flowing alcohol, rampant nudity, and thousands of people on makeshift flotation devices on a river not only concerns the administration but security officers as well. Each year, there are Safety and Security patrollers to prevent students from entering the river from the New Hampshire side, forcing them to trek across the bridge to the Vermont shore.
