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\u201cTeam Mum\u201d measures 7 feet wide and 18 feet long, and it took six months to plan and build.<\/p>\nThe saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas \u2014 and homecoming mums are no exception.<\/p>\n
When the UT San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures (ITC) reopened in downtown San Antonio, it celebrated with a \u201chomecoming\u201d of its own. The museum\u2019s first visiting exhibition, \u201cMUMENTOUS\u00ae: The Upsizing of a Texas Tradition,\u201d is a colorful, larger-than-life tribute to one of the state\u2019s most creative traditions: the homecoming mum.<\/p>\n
Building a Texas-sized welcome<\/p>\n
To prepare for the museum\u2019s new chapter downtown, ITC Exhibits Coordinator Cristina Winston and a team of student workers and staff created an 18-foot-tall homecoming mum: the centerpiece of the MUMENTOUS\u00ae exhibit.<\/p>\n
This monumental mum isn\u2019t just big. It\u2019s museum big. The ITC\u2019s \u201cTeam Mum\u201d measures 7 feet wide and 18 feet long, and it took six months to plan and build. It has about 1,333 yards, or 4,000 feet, of ribbon along with millions of rhinestones and thousands of staples.<\/p>\n
The ITC team used scaffolding at UT San Antonio\u2019s Archives and Collections Building to construct the skirt, attaching entire spools of ribbon to plywood with industrial staples and hot glue.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeam Mum\u201d measures 7 feet wide and 18 feet long, and it took six months to plan and build.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent two months planning, calculating, and trying to figure out how I was going to create this monumental mum \u2014 despite never having made one before,\u201d Winston said. \u201cThe local mum community was incredibly generous with their knowledge. We knew breaking the world record wasn\u2019t realistic, so instead, we set out to design the most elaborate Team Mum possible, one that reflected today\u2019s modern styles, especially with intricate braiding.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ITC\u2019s Team Mum celebrates the museum\u2019s own history, featuring cultural symbols like a Chinese lion puppet, cowboy boots and a longhorn plushie with a balloon as a nod to the original Texas Folklife Festival logo.<\/p>\n
It includes a love braid on the left, a dragon tail chain in the middle, a Mobius braid on the right, and an angel wing braid with rhinestone fringe. The finished creation arrived at the museum in two massive pieces \u2014 the crown and the skirt \u2014 to be assembled for the first time in the new gallery.<\/p>\n
Heart behind the glitter<\/p>\n
The MUMENTOUS\u00ae exhibition was originally developed by the Arlington Museum of Art and is supported by the Cultural Heritage Endowment.<\/p>\n
The exhibit showcases photography and research by Amy J. Schultz, author of \u201cMUMENTOUS: Original Photos and Mostly True Stories About Football, Glue Guns, Moms, and a Supersized High School Tradition That Was Born Deep in the Heart of Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through her work, Schultz explores how homecoming mums have evolved from simple corsages in the early 1900s to today\u2019s elaborate, expressive creations, sometimes featuring lights, stuffed animals, feather boas, neon, die-cuts and entire themes. Schultz\u2019s photos and stories highlight the artistry, personal identity and community each mum represents.<\/p>\n
The rise of the \u201cTeam Mum\u201d in the 1990s marked a new phase in the tradition\u2019s development, according to Schultz. The massive mums, like the Guinness World Record-holding 38-foot-tall mum created in 2023 by Louisville High School, north of Dallas, became a collective celebration of entire schools and teams rather than just individuals.<\/p>\n