The party in Zap, N.D., began to get out of hand when visitors started a bonfire under the town’s
power lines.
[Editor’s note: This story originally ran on ndsuspectrum.com on March 12, 2015.]
What started as a spring break excursion suggested by The Spectrum became North Dakota’s only riot.
Over 3,000 college students overran the small city of Zap, N.D., in May 1969, taking spring break a bit too far in an event that became state history and the stuff of legend.
Forty-six years later, the incident is still memorable, and now more than ever, spring break safety is vital, from the lessons of Zip to Zap to NDSU’s annual “5 S’s of Spring Break.”
Zipping to Zap
It all started with Chuck Stroup’s subpar grades.
The NDSU Student Body President, then 22, knew he wasn’t going to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., like others with the
Hundreds of students and spring breakers “zipped” to Zap while thousands more set out for the
town but never made it as the National Guard became involved.
grades he had, but he wanted to have a memorable trip nonetheless.
“There’s a whole bunch of other suckers just like me that aren’t gonna do anything like go to Florida, so what could we do?” Stroup said.
After thinking everyone else like him could come together for something big, he took his idea to a Spectrum reporter who asked what the answer might be.
“I know that on Saturday night, you can have a helluva good time in Zap, North Dakota,” Stroup, a Hazen, N.D., native, recalled answering.
Stroup then placed teaser ads for “Zip to Zap” in The Spectrum and then-editor in chief Kevin Carvell penned an article promoting “a Grand Festival of Light and Love” in a city described as the “Fort Lauderdale of the North.”
From there things “went viral,” as outside media picked up the story and Zip to Zap caught college students’
Students and spring breakers damaged the interiors of Zap’s two bars when bartenders raised
the price of beer to 50 cents.
attention across America.
North Dakota’s Woodstock
Originally, Zap residents welcomed the students and festivities.
But when a Main Street bonfire began under power lines, the fire department came calling, and things got “messy,” Stroup said.
Meanwhile, the bars were “belly to back” with students vying for beer upped to 50 cents.
“If you raise the price and you’re pretty drunk by … 10, 11, 12 o’clock at night, things (get) messy,” Stroup said. “The bar got trashed.”
Several brawls led to Zap Mayor Norman Fuchs sending for the National Guard on standby in Mott, N.D., who arrived at 5 a.m. Saturday to quell the students who had taken to urinating, vomiting and lying in the streets.
While 3,000 students zipped to Zap, Stroup estimated twice that set out for the city. Only 300 sparked the uproar in Zap, an incident which led the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite that Sunday night.
Thousands of dollars in damages resulted from the state’s only riot, yet Zip to Zap lives on in legend.
“There wasn’t a spring break gathering in North Dakota,” Stroup said. “For that reason, it was unique … Having a kegger in the woods was commonplace, but to drive to Zap and have a kegger in town would be a hoot.”
Staying safe
Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Prevention Programs coordinator Nick Redenius gave a seminar Wednesday on “the 5 S’s of Spring Break,” including driving, sun protection, sex and more.
“Certain stereotypical activities associated with spring break … have safety and well-being concerns for students at any age and destination,” Redenius said in an email.
With representatives from the North Dakota Department of Health, NDSU Wellness Center and University Police, a range of professionals came together to present safety tips “to see students that are informed, equipped, and self-determined to make choices to preserve and enhance their health and safety,” Redenius wrote.
Looking back on Zip to Zap, Stroup offered some wisdom for any spring break.
“Plan what you’re doing. Be safe with what you’re doing … Be cautious. Know what you’re doing. Have a good time. Be with people that you love and like to be with.”
Fantastic fun and memories!
I was four years old when this took place, I lived in zap during the “zip to zap”!! I remember having to stay in the house for days, kids camping in our yard, it was scary as a child, it put zap on the map!!