The students continued the tradition every homecoming day until in 1911, when the college administration deemed it undignified and un-ladylike for women to dress up in sheets and wander the streets.
The men were to grow beards for approximately one month and the women were to dress as Indian maidens on Hobo Day.
After all the preparation was complete, the entire student body participating in Hobo Day journeyed to the train station to meet the opposing football team.
According to the student newspaper, "The onlooker could not have told whether he was in an 1849 Indian village or a Twentieth Century division point on the Northwestern railroad."
The Hobo Day parade also included floats built by students that drove down the main street.
After several newspapers in the region declared SDSU students as "vulgar," the college shied away from obscene and large floats.
The parade is ended by the Grand Pooba riding through on the historic Bummobile with the rest of the Hobo Day Committee.
Otherwise, with the exception of a select number of summer parades and SDSU events, the 1912 Ford Model T remains displayed in a large glass encasing in the Hobo Day Gallery, a Hobo Day showcase room in the SDSU University Student Union, built in 2010.
That has prompted French and the Hobo Day Committee to launch an effort to repair and restore the Bummobile.
[2] In 2009, the Bummobile was shipped off to California for a whole year to be restored and repaired, and ever since it runs with minimal problems.5 In 1990, students and people in Brookings for the event grew agitated after a cold, damp week and created what came to be known at the Hobo Day Riots.
[3] Parade barricades were burned, light poles and street signs damaged and an SDSU campus police car was vandalized.
Nine men were eventually charged with offenses and Hobo Day's future was in question, according to university officials.
Rally at the Rails: This glorified pep fest takes place in downtown Brookings and features a live band, food, dancing, games, and other entertainment for students and community members to kick off Hobo Week in style.
Events that have been discontinued: Hobolympics: Teams from various campus organizations and residence halls compete in a variety of "hobo" athletics.
The Bummobile is the inspiration for the Hobo Day Gallery located in the northwest corner of the Student Union.