Oxford welcomes back alumni at MiamiFest, honors legacy of Western College

When Carl Patzer, 93, graduated from Miami University in 1952, Harry Truman was still president, Upham Hall was more than a decade away from having a south wing and Oxford was still classified as a village.

A lot has changed at Miami since Patzer’s graduation, especially the buildings, he says. But Oxford is still the city he remembers 72 years later, even if some of the businesses have changed.

Patzer made his return trip to Oxford on June 8 for the 2024 Alumni Weekend and Oxford’s MiamiFest celebration Saturday night.

“We’ve been looking forward to, for several years, coming back to Miami,” Patzer said. “We figured this was the year because I don’t know how much longer I’m gonna be around.”

Over the weekend, roughly 1,200 alumni joined Patzer for the festivities, said Ellie Witter, director of alumni engagement. The festivities included building tours and open houses, Greek life reunions, bourbon tasting, the annual Toasted Roll 5k Run and more. Because the university uses residence halls and dining halls for alumni, Witter said hosting the weekend over the summer helps with logistics.

The highlight of the weekend for Tina Dennig, a 1974 alumna and Miami Merger, was the parade of classes on Saturday. The alumni marched from the Seal to Oxford Memorial Park holding signs with their class years. Dennig said the parade was the highlight of her weekend, especially since she's celebrating her 50th anniversary of graduation.

“[The parade] was something that was completely different from anything else, and it made it special this year,” Dennig said.

Jim Dennig, who also graduated from Miami in 1974 and married Tina Dennig, said they’ve been coming back every five years since 1999. To him, the biggest shift at Miami has been in the student lifestyle and what people need to know to get an education, especially in terms of technology. When Dennig was at college, personal computers were only just starting to become popular.

Chris Moranda was a member of the final graduating class of the Western College for Women before the institution closed in 1974 and folded into Miami. She marched in her alma mater’s colors of blue and white along with other Western College graduates who served as the grand marshals of the parade.

“We’ve never done this,” Moranda said. “This is a first [for us] to walk in the Miami piece.”

This year, the Western College Alumnae Association celebrated alumni weekend for the final time as its graduates continue to age. The association will disband this year and become an affinity group within Miami’s Alumni Association. In the past 50 years, the association has given out 4,000 scholarships totaling $18 million for Miami students.

After the parade of classes, alumni and Oxford residents gathered Uptown for MiamiFest. The celebration, which ran from 4:30 until 9:30, included food trucks and live music from the Campus Owls Tribute Band, DJ Toad and The Menus. A KidZone with a bounce house and inflatable obstacle course also kept the children of alumni entertained.

This year marked the first time the parade of classes has gone toward High Street and ended Uptown. The new route connected the festivities more closely with Oxford and allowed alumni to use the designated outdoor drinking area.

Miami’s 2024 homecoming, the next time alumni will return to campus en masse, is scheduled for Sept. 27-29. The RedHawks football team will face the University of Massachusetts in the homecoming game at Yager Stadium, and the weekend will also put a special emphasis on Western College.