Kieran McBride, Lawrence senior, knew it was destiny when he found an 11th Street sign post in his backyard. He was considering moving into the Mountain Dewd house and knew after he found the sign that he was meant to live there. Four years later, he has one more year at the University and can’t imagine living anywhere else.

History of the Dewds

In 2003, ten friends came back from a road trip and decided they wanted to live together. They found a house at 1115 Tennessee St. and named themselves the “Mountain Dewds.” The founders were Christian men who wanted to set an example for their community.

McBride said the house just started as a bunch of guys that wanted to live together, but has since morphed into an “alternative way of doing college.”

The house now has 14 members in what they call the “Big Green House.”

The Dewds recently added a second house. Seven other Dewds live in the yellow house, next door at 1121 Tennessee St.

The two houses are known collectively as “Dewdville.”

What it means to be a Dewd

Jordan Guth, Plano, Texas junior and a Dewd, said that a lot of Christians tend to “go over the top,” and the Dewds wanted to be different.

“We want to show people that we’re like everybody else, that we’re cool, that we’re normal, that we do fun things, and that you can have fun without going overboard,” Guth said.

The title and purpose of the house, Guth said, had several meanings. But it doesn’t have anything to do with the drink Mountain Dew.

“We want to be a house up on a hill,” Guth said. “We want to be held to a higher standard.”

The house actually received a cease-and-desist letter from Pepsico a few years ago after a Pepsico rep saw a photo in the The University Daily Kansan, in which the Dewds were wearing modified Mountain Dew shirts. The Dewds wrote back, explaining that they were not giving Mountain Dew a bad name. The Dewds were allowed to keep the name but can’t use any Pepsico logos.

Partying as a Dewd

The Dewd house hosts several events throughout the year, including a Halloween party that boasted around 450 people two years ago.

“We always just blow that up,” Guth said.

The Dewd’s signature event is Keith Day, the third Friday in April.

Keith Wilson was one of the founders, but was hardly ever in the house because of school work. The rest of the Dewds decided to throw him a party to show him they still cared about him.

Guth said the party was originally supposed to be large, but not huge. It’s now the biggest celebration the Dewds have in the spring.

At last year’s Keith Day, the Dewds had everything from bobbing for Keith (pictures of Wilson on apples), cups, balloons, T-shirts and even a Keith kissing booth.

McBride loves living at the Dewd house and participating in all the activities.

“We really don’t know why people want to come here, we just do stupid, ridiculous stuff,” McBride said.

He thinks that certain lifestyles can be more destructive than others, but the Dewd house is all about being unique, different and constructive. McBride also said that the Dewds didn’t look down on anyone else if they did things differently. He just wants to make the alternative that much better.

“If we’re gonna do it different, we’re gonna do it awesome,” McBride said. “We’re gonna jump our bikes into a lake while the ramp’s on fire.”

The Dewd house is full of random objects, like the 11th Street sign that McBride found, a long sled, a Kansas City Star vending machine and even an old McDonald’s drive-thru sign.

“Awesomeness” as a dewd

The “relics,” as McBride calls them, are brought to the house and left there after people move out. They obtained the McDonald’s sign when a few Dewds were driving past McDonald’s while the employees were replacing the signs. The Dewds asked if they could have the old one, and it now adorns a hallway in the Dewd house. A Quik-Trip sign in the yellow house was obtained the same way.

McBride is proud of the things that happen in the Dewd house. He said that people have had life-changing things happen because of the house. Lifelong friends have been made, and spouses have been met.

“It affects people’s lives in a real positive way,” McBride said.

Men join the Mountain Dewds mainly by being recruited via word-of-mouth.

The Mountain Dewd house crest, designed by former Dewd Chris Jones, sums up what the Dewds are about. The crest reads “Semper Awesomis.”

“We’re promoters of awesomeness and all things that are awesome,” Guth said. “We’re just a group of guys living together that love the Lord, but love awesome things.”

— Edited by Daniel Reyes