Todd Vanderwerff

The temperatures lowered and the wind blew leaves off of the trees, promising another gusty, cold Hobo Day weekend.

For people in Brookings, Hobo Week is a week which requires lots of preparation. If you’re a business owner, there’s money to be made off of the thousands who come to town. If you’re going to be in the parade, your float needs to be completed on time. If you’re just a resident of Brookings, it’s your choice whether you stay inside and avoid the festivities or participate in them wholeheartedly.

Young or old, Hobo Days affects every Brookings resident in some way.

For Tom Yseth, owner of The Ram Pub, Hobo Day weekend is a good thing. He says that the Friday before Hobo Day is one of his busiest days of the year but that the restaurant gets quiet more quickly than usual on Hobo Day itself. Although it gets busy right after the game, the dining room is quiet by 9 p.m., when it won’t be emptied until 10:30 on a typical Saturday night.

This year, though, Hobo Day just might save Yseth the headache of Halloween, which is traditionally one of the slowest nights in the restaurant business. Normally, people stay home to hand out treats or take their kids trick-or-treating, but Yseth thinks that the fact that Halloween is Hobo Day eve will make up for that fact.

“It will make a good Halloween that we wouldn’t normally have, unless we have a blizzard or something,” Yseth said.

Matt Stock, a senior horticulture major who is in the Farm House fraternity, is helping his fraternity brothers build their float for Saturday morning’s parade.

“We’re just going to do kind of a basic Hobo mobile. We got a bus and we’re just going to kind of build around that,” Stock said.

Stock said that he thinks this year’s Hobo Day theme isn’t as well thought out as it could have been. He says that the “Traditions” theme doesn’t make for as much creativity for float builders.

“It seems repetitive. Everybody has the same idea for what they’re going to do for a float,” Stock said.

For Stock, however, the parade is just one part of a week that will be filled with excitement.

“I’m just looking forward to the excitement on the whole campus,” Stock said. “It’s going to be cold, but it’s just one of those things that you deal with.”

Some residents of Brookings may not be able to get out to celebrate Hobo Day like they want to. At Park Place Assisted Living, however, every attempt is made to make sure those who live there can enjoy Hobo Day.

According to Jody Hexem, director of recreational services, some residents attend the parade and a tape is brought in for others to watch.

“It brings back lots of memories,” Hexem said.

#1.886640:3495101702.jpg:hoboprep1color.jpg:Members of the Lambda Chi fraternity examine their float as they put it together. The Hobo Day parade, which will be held Saturday morning, looks as though it will feature many bum-mobiles.: