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Pig roasts, box derby races and QuikTrip birthday parties; nothing is out of the question for the Mountain Dewds.

It all started in 2003 with a group of guys road tripping to Arizona. They stopped at a gas station and found an old box of T-shirts outside. The discovery of the shirts, which read “Mountain Dewds,” gave the group its namesake.

“We don’t have anything to do with mountains or the drink Mountain Dew,” Matthew Shaw, Hiedelberg, Germany, senior, said.

The Mountain Dewds consist of 21 male KU students who live together in two houses on Tennessee Street. In “Dewdville,” the roommates, who are Christian, try to live by example by throwing non-alcoholic events and inviting people from the Lawrence community.

“We’re not against drinking,” Shaw said, “We just think there’s other, more awesome things to do.”

The Dewds throw four major events a year including a date night, Halloween party, ramp party, which involves a barbecue and biking off ramps into Potter Lake, and Keith Day, when they hand out free kool-aid on campus.

Keith, a former roommate from 2004, was constantly busy with school and work and rarely had time to spend with the guys. The Dewds wanted to come up with a way to show Keith he was still an important member of the group.

“What better way to hang out with him than to throw him his own holiday?” Shaw asked. There are photos of Keith throughout the house and one outside that can be seen from the street.

The Dewds’ Halloween party brought in around 400 people last year. Complete with lasers, a fog machine and a DJ, it’s their biggest event of the year. But Shaw said friends are always stopping by the houses to hang out. He said you don’t have to live in Dewdville to be a Dewd.

“It’s really anyone that takes part in the community and promotes our ideals,” Shaw said.

Living in Dewdville means being a part of a group. While the Mountain Dewd houses may be compared to a fraternity or a ministry house, Shaw said they are neither.

“It’s unique,” Shaw said. “We’re not a frat because we stand for different things than they do; but we’re also not what a ministry does because we hate how strict some Christians can be.”

That attitude is not the only thing that makes these houses stand out. Inside, visitors find “stadium” seating in the living room, a McDonald’s drive-thru sign near the door, a snake named Delilah and their own rendition of a Blockbuster DVD rental system.

“There’s a culture associated with it, there’s alumni, there’s tradition,” Shaw said. And the Mountain Dewd mission is simple.

“Our goal is to promote awesomeness,” Shaw said.

— Edited by Jonathan Hermes

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