By Grace Gu ’16
Staff Writer
The Potter-Kelly Cup symbolizes the 25 years of Blair Day and 110 year rivalry between Peddie and Blair.
When Blair Day started in 1988 the Potter-Kelley Cup was named for F. Edward Potter Jr., former headmaster of Peddie and James R. Kelley, retired headmaster of Blair.
Headmaster Peter Quinn expressed his opinion of Blair Day.
“There’s more focus today on a sense of what Peddie is all about, and the importance of the design that makes every team equally important in the outcome,” Quinn said. “Creative, unified and all-embracing are the ways I would describe the week.”
The Peddie-Blair football rivalry began in 1903 and a game has been played every year since, except for one. This was the same year that the World Series began, but that has been cancelled twice.
“In the ’70s, the rivalry was specifically a football rivalry,” English Teacher Jan Loughran ’77 said. “Everyone came to cheer on the football team. It brought the community together as well, but the students who played other fall sports were in the stands.”
Now all students and faculty, whether or not they are involved in sports, can show their spirit through their own interpretations of Blair Day.
Megan Mooney ’14 expresses that her favorite part of Blair Day is the spirit of the community.
“I love the spirit of the entire school,” Mooney said. “Community meeting brings the entire school together and shows all of the new students exactly what Peddie is capable of. And of course blue and gold day is the most spirited of all!”
“On Blair Day, every game counts as much as any other,” Qadira Al-Mahi ’15 said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman JV tennis player or a senior playing varsity football, every game amounts to the same number of points, and that’s what I love the most about Blair Day!”
Blair Week has a variety of well loved traditions. Each day of the week has a different dress-up theme; this year’s were: pajama day, clash day, decades day, farmer day, and blue and gold day.
Consisting of different games such as “Chubby Bunny,” skit performances and dances and singing, the annual pep rally is also a fun focal point of the blue and gold spirit. During the finale, the whole school gathers around the stage and yells out “Ala Viva” with their pride.
“I loved the pep rally this year,” Caroline Lloyd ’16 said. “I love how excited everyone is and I love the excitement from everyone in the crowd.”
While the pep rally excited both the participants and the spectators, making dorm banners has also been a good bonding experience.
“Our theme was the varsity list that some freshmen thought of,” Yifei Wu ’14 said. “I liked it but I think we could have made it more original and funny. But we had a good time painting together overall.”
New traditions are constantly being added. Farmer Day began during the Blair Week of 2012 and Associate Director of Admission Michael Agosto brought the Farmer Showdown to Peddie this year, which included a Pumpkin Shot-put, Wheelbarrow Relay and Tractor Pull.
“[The Farmer Showdown] really brought the community together,” Ayami Cho ’16 said. “We were all cheering for our own grades and we were all together on center campus. It was like a bonding experience”
