On September 4, hundreds of first-year McMaster Engineering students and red suits will head to Bayfront Park to celebrate the end of Welcome Week and the beginning of the academic term in true Mac Eng fashion—by pulling a bus.
The annual McMaster Engineering bus pull, organized by the McMaster Engineering Welcome Week committee, is a time-honoured tradition that brings the Fireball Family together to raise funds for local Hamilton charities.
This year, the funds raised from the event will help support Hamilton’s Neighbour to Neighbour Centre, explains Angela Lewis, a Mechanical Engineering student who is one of this year’s Welcome Week Co-Orientation Coordinators, alongside Kyle Andrade. Neighbour to Neighbour is a local organization that has helped alleviate the burden of poverty in the city for almost 40 years. Through emergency food banks, educational services and family supports, Neighbour to Neighbour aims to improve the quality of life for all community members.
“The thing I’ve really appreciated about this event over the years is getting to work with these charities and understand their initiatives more,” says Lewis. “The funds that we raise make a meaningful difference for these organizations, but we’re also able to raise awareness for these charities and that really goes a long way.”
A time-honoured tradition
The McMaster Engineering bus pull started in 1990, when members of the Faculty of Engineering gathered to pull a Hamilton Street Railway (HSR) bus through the streets of downtown Hamilton.
Over the next 30-odd years, the charities changed—some past charities include Help a Child Smile, the Hamilton Victory Gardens and the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation—but the annual event remained largely the same until the COVID-19 pandemic forced the red suits to suspend the event.
After a two-year hiatus during the pandemic, the bus pull returned in 2022, following McMaster’s return to in-person Welcome Week events. This time, however, the event was relocated to Bayfront Park, and, due to one tricky hairpin turn in the planned route, the students switched from pulling a HSR bus to a decorated U-Haul van.
This year, the red suits are returning to Bayfront Park for the fourth consecutive year and bringing local vendors and different activities for students and the public alike with them. But unlike the last few years, says Lewis, there is one change to this year’s programming that will bring the event one step closer to its roots—this year, they’ll be pulling a school bus.
A warm welcome
Once the festivities are complete and the bus has been safely parked in its starting location, the event will transition to a rite of passage of sorts for both the first-year students and Welcome Week representatives alike, bringing the festivities of Welcome Week to a close and officially welcoming the first-year students to the Fireball Family.
Each first-year student in attendance will be given a candle and invited to take a “fire walk” through the park with the red suits, explains the coordinators. At the end of the walk, the students will gather in a large circle, and the Welcome Week representatives will remove their rep suits and speak to the first-year students as peers.
“The idea is to show the first years that the reps who have been supporting them throughout Welcome Week are fellow students, just like them,” says Andrade. “And, even though Welcome Week may be over and we’re no longer wearing our red suits, we’re still here to support them and help them throughout the rest of their time at McMaster.”
The Mac Eng bus pull event is happening at Bayfront Park on Friday, September 4 from 10 am until 1:30 pm. The event is rain-or-shine and open to the public.