What was zip to zap

He took out some teaser ads but the concept never went anywhere until The Spectrum itself began promoting it, he said. Students create a bonfire on Main Street in Zap in this N. Historical Society photo. Kevin Carvell, editor at the time for The Spectrum, often shares credit, or blame, for Zip to Zap, despite his efforts to avoid the notoriety.

His recollection is of planning an end-of-the semester event for his staff. One of his staff suggested holding the event in Zap, so they made inside-joke references to the upcoming picnic in small type on the masthead. Soon a fraternity, veterans club and the football team were wanting to attend.

The newspaper embraced the spring fling idea, and Carvell made a trip around the state, including a stop in Minot, to distribute flyers and visit with student newspaper editors.

Carvell also made a reconnaissance trip to Zap to write an article that was picked up and distributed nationally by the Associated Press. Stroup said it was a Minneapolis radio station that really got the buzz going. He dropped out of school to return home to Mott. Don Homuth, who now lives in Oregon, took over as editor of The Spectrum and promoter of the Zap event. The Zap community initially welcomed the students, planning a barbecue, music and dance to entertain them.

However, Mayor Norman Fuchs had warned in a letter that the peace-loving community would take strong measures to discourage riots, according to a May 5 article in The Spectrum. The article speculated that several thousand students might attend. Although the actual crowd has been estimated at 3,, Carvell said there never was any kind of count and estimates are speculative.

The number of out-of-state students also is uncertain, but Carvell said they likely were a small number of the largely North Dakota crowd that included both college students and young non-students. Christianson and his friends left Minot on Friday evening, May 9, arriving in Zap before sunset to find the paved roads into town blocked by law enforcement.

Turned away, they were disappointed but not deterred. They found a back road into town, joining the crowd on Main Street. He and his friends hung around, enjoying the music, visiting with other students they knew and getting acquainted with new people. Veterans clubs, including the Minot club, also had members there.

Christianson estimates it was around midnight that Friday night when he and his friends motored back to Minot. Meanwhile, back in Zap, students, many of them becoming increasingly inebriated as the night wore on, became more rowdy.

Carvell, who had arrived in Zap that Friday, became aware of trouble when he woke Saturday morning to find Highway Patrol and National Guard members rousting them from the town. Fearing repercussions were coming from the event, Carvell fled. At the end of all of this, there were thousands of dollars in damage and even a couple of buildings destroyed. The rioters left fairly easily especially since most were pretty hungover at that point and everything calmed down.

Still, it made national headlines and was the leading story on the news. Other post-Zip gatherings have been held without trouble. Reports stated that of the near 3, partygoers that came to Zap, it was likely only around that took part in the riot. Still, it was an event that will be remembered by North Dakotans forever. North Dakota In Your Inbox spinner. Thank you! You'll receive your first newsletter soon! Love North Dakota? Get more stories delivered right to your email.

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