Students float the Chip in end-of-summer tradition
Kate Carlson | News Editor
Students gathered together to tube down the Chippewa River on Friday afternoon, Aug. 28.
Pedestrians in parks across Mount Pleasant paused to watch coolers, inflatable tubes and Central Michigan University students as they floated down the Chippewa River.
Through a Facebook event and word of mouth, nearly 100 people gathered at Chipp-A-Waters park on Friday Aug. 28. The tubers tailgated in the parking lot of Chipp-A-Waters park for about an hour before they entered the river at around 2 p.m.
"I think (floating down the Chip is) becoming a tradition," said Romeo senior Caitlyn Lebioda.
Lebioda and the rest of the group she came with said they had never taken part in "Float the Chip" on Welcome Weekend before, but were excited to experience the CMU tradition.
Most people tied their inter-tubes together and brought along refreshments to enhance their tubing experience. There was no set course, and some people stopped frequently along the riverbank to regroup before continuing their journey down the river.
Drew Burnett said attendance was a lot better than when he floated down the river last year.
"I think maybe 10 people did it last year, or at least when my group went down the river," said the Oakwood Ohio senior.
The festivities never got too out of hand despite the presence of alcohol. Most park-goers were amused by watching students yell out "Fire up Chips" as they braved the rapids.
"There are two or three rapid areas down here where you're supposed to get out and walk your tube down a little bit, but we tubed down them anyway," Burnett said.
Dominic Demark also spoke about tubing down the rapids in past years of "floating the chip."
"I've been doing it for four years," the Shelby Township senior said. "You can get off at different places, but the route we're doing takes about an hour and a half. The rapids are really fun, and you get to hang out with your friends, so it's a really chill environment."
When asked, some tubers did not have a destination planned for exiting the river. All they knew was that they would float down with friends.
"It's a success so far," said Pinckney junior, Ian Anderson. "I wasn't expecting this. I thought it was going to be our little group of friends, but there are all of these people here, so it's pretty cool."
