Utah Tech’s D-Week Celebrates 110 Years Of Trailblazing Traditions
April 7-12, 2025
Celebrating over a century of trailblazing tradition, partnering with the community and embracing the pioneering spirit, Utah Tech University’s D-Week is an annual opportunity for students, alumni and the entire Southern Utah community to come together.
A springtime spirit week, D-Week was born in 1915 to settle a class rivalry dating back to 1912, when the classes of 1913, ’14 and ’15 took turns painting their graduating year on what is now known as Dixie Rock. The D was constructed to create one unified symbol of school spirit. Civil engineer Leo A. Snow laid out the stone outline of the 100-by-75-foot D and a crew of 12 repaired an abandoned trail to make way for teams of horses to haul up buckets of whitewash. Then on what became known as Dixie Day, more than 100 people worked together to rearrange and paint lava rocks to fill in the D. Upon completion, volunteers and onlookers enjoyed a meal together and presented skits and speeches to commemorate the special day.
Over a century later, Utah Tech worked to get the D added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022 and the now-weeklong celebration continues to bear the D-Week name to honor the longstanding traditions still embraced. As always, the community is invited to join in the fun.
Kicking off D-Week, community members can venture to Southern Utah businesses and featured Art in the City bison, where pop-up parties will offer free giveaways as part of Brooks’ City Tour from 4 to 6 PM on Monday, April 7. For example, UT tumblers engraved with individual’s names will be available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Town Square Park bison. Location details for all stops on the tour will be on @utahtechu’s Instagram stories the day of the event.
Utah Tech students will display their commitment to service, community involvement and academic achievement in the Trailblazer Queen Pageant, a century-long tradition of crowning a queen who embraces the values of UT. The pageant begins at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8, in the Eccles Fine Arts Center, and general admission is $10.
Another longstanding tradition of D-Week, The Great Race, dates back to a 1960s bike race through St. George. Since then, The Great Race has morphed into a 10-person relay team that included motor crossing, horseback riding across Foremaster Ridge, and tubing down the Virgin River in the early 1970s before it moved to campus in 2000. In its current form, the Great Race still features relay teams of 10 as they run, pedal, swim, scoot, and slide their way through the infamous mud pit to the finish line. This year’s iteration of the storied relay is set to start at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 11, in Greater Zion Stadium. The community in invited to participate in the Great Race by pre-registering at utahtech.edu/dweek.
Immediately following The Great Race, Brooks Birthday Carnival will offer games and concessions to celebrate the ninth birthday of the university’s mascot, Brooks the Bison. Brooks was unveiled during D-Week 2016, when the Trailblazers athletic identity was launched. The event will take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on the Encampment Mall, where pioneers parked their covered wagons when they first settled St. George, built a strong sense of community and began the area’s rich history of valuing education by teaching school lessons from the back of their wagons.
In the pinnacle of D-Week, the community will unite to apply a fresh coat of whitewash to the iconic D on the Hill, enjoy breakfast together and take in the stunning views of St. George. Paint the D will take place at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 12.
110 years after the inaugural painting of the D on the Hill, Utah Tech University continues to celebrate the institution’s rich history of offering a second-to-none education. For more details about this year’s D-Week events, visit utahtech.edu/dweek.
