Students and alumni gathered to “Burn the Hell Outta Bonfire” on Saturday after a months-long delay. The return of the long-standing conference rivalry against the University of Texas at Austin meant the revival of Aggie Bonfire’s original purpose: to show the burning spirit of Aggieland to the school down in Austin.

Despite a Robertson County burn ban delaying the annual burn and rainy weather soaking the night’s participants, Bonfire crews, students and families still showed up for a Good Bull time to “Burn the Hell Outta Bonfire.”

For biological and agricultural engineering junior Colin McCormick, Lechner Hall crew’s Yellowpot, the off-campus organization is all about connection.

“I’ve made a lot of really good friends,” McCormick said. “They are people I would do anything for, and they’d do anything for me. It’s a real blessing to find people who are dedicated to living deliberately and loving our school.”

Student Bonfire is an intricate organization of students, alumni and professionals working together annually to build and burn safely and smoothly. To make the leadership distinctions visible while working on cutting and stacking wood for the fire, different colored helmets — or “pots” — are assigned to certain individuals.

“We’ll go top-down with the leadership in the organization,” McCormick said. “Senior Redpots do a lot of the overview and help keep the lights on. Junior Redpots are the main boots on the ground that make sure everything is safe and efficient. … There’s Brownpots who operate equipment, and Greenpots who do public outreach and can operate equipment. Middle management is where the Yellowpots come in, and they are the figureheads and main points of contact for their crew.”

Despite the less-than-ideal weather, McCormicks’ positivity and excitement for burn night was unfettered.

“It’s raining here at Stack site,” McCormick said. “I got water dripping down my helmet. I’m cold and wet, but there’s been a lot of times where I was out here in my steel toes, knee-deep in mud working. And there’s nothing quite like that. It’s something you can’t replicate.”

The original builders of Bonfire were the Corps of Cadets until 1963, making the crews in the Corps dorms important guardians of tradition. They suffered a great loss in 1999, with the tragic collapse of the bonfire claiming the lives of 12 Aggies, 8 of which were current or ex-members of the Corps of Cadets. Every year, the Corps takes special care to honor the lives that were lost. 

Ecology and conservation biology sophomore Xavier Gonzalez, a BQ — meaning a member of the Aggie Band — and Bonfire member vowed to keep the spirit of the 12 alive.

“My dad was Class of 2001,” Gonzalez said. “He was a member of Walton Hall, so I grew up with his stories leading up to and after collapse. … The band has been pretty involved in preserving the memory of the 12, and we have to maintain that history.”

While Bonfire’s history is important to Gonzalez, the organization is also about forging new memories and living in the present. Being in a crew allows some of the formalities and structure of Corps life to fall to the wayside for a day.

“I get to be close with my fish, my buddies and upperclassmen,” Gonzalez said. “There’s a lot more freedom to it. … I’m able to act like a normal person and drop the Corps games whenever it’s time to go to Bonfire.”

Bonfire is a huge team effort, and Burn is especially rewarding for those who put time into constructing it.

“To me, Burn night is a completion,” Gonzalez said. “It’s seeing the end of a year’s worth of work. I’m finally able to see what I’ve done, all the trees I’ve chopped down, all the hours at Stack. Being able to see all of it come to fruition, to be over, but proud of a very collaborative thing.”

Going to Bonfire is often a formative experience for underclassmen who may or may not have heard of the tradition before. Forensic science sophomore Sunny Benitez attended Burn for the first time and was mesmerized by the unity and camaraderie she saw.

“It seems like everyone was in their groups and had a sense of purpose,” Benitez said. “They have activities and traditions to get everyone involved, and the hall groups especially are very welcoming individuals.”

There was a palpable sense of energy surrounding the event that was not snuffed out even with the delayed date and slight drizzle.

“It’s important to keep up the energy, especially going into football games, and I like that the point of Bonfire is to enforce the idea that we will win,” Benitez said. “It’s important to keep spirits high regardless of the football season, and tonight everyone felt like a real connected family.”

Benitez feels that Bonfire is a particularly fun event for Aggies who may be new or wary of the sometimes overwhelming world of Aggie traditions.

“You don’t have to know all the songs, you don’t have to know all the chants, it’s more about how you feel experiencing it for the first time,” Benitez said. 

It was a particular honor for her first time at Aggie Bonfire to be the long-awaited return of the University of Texas-Texas A&M rivalry.

“It definitely feels special,” Benitez said. “t.u. is such a huge rival to A&M, and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the specific additions they have for this version of Bonfire. It’s cool to see Aggies go out of their way to show their true spirit when it comes to the rivalry.”

After seeing the lighting of the fire and the impressive blaze that endured even through heavier rainfall, Benitez says witnessing Burn for the first time was an emotional moment.

“It was euphoric in a way,” Benitez said. “It was nice to just live in the moment and let all the worries go away and enjoy just being there.”