Members of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry smile as they stand on their float in the Homecoming Parade. Larshell Green/The Lion’s Roar

The Homecoming Parade brought together many participants for this year’s tailgating before the Homecoming Game.

The Homecoming Parade was held on Saturday, Oct. 28 along with other activities that entertained attendees before the game. 

The organizations in the parade designed their own floats while most of the faculty and Homecoming Court rode in cars. All of the floats in the parade were associated with different fairy tales to complement this year’s theme, “Once Upon a Homecoming.” 

Junior marketing major and Theta Phi Alpha member Jenna Licciardi explained the way her organization designed their float.

“We were given options for a theme between three, and we decided that ‘Princess and the Frog’ would be best for us,” said Licciardi.

Licciardi explained the process of decorating the parade float.

“We had a float decorating committee come up and design the float,” said Licciardi. “They had help with one of the sister’s grandfather, and we used his float. And we painted on wood, and we attached it to the float. We had the gentlemen of KA help us put that on there, and we painted.”

Licciardi said that the difference between their float and the other organizations’ floats is that they tried to keep their theme modern.

“Everyone tried to stick with the storybook theme, and we really tried to stick with the modern ‘Princess and the Frog,’ very New Orleans,” said Licciardi. “That’s why we had the Spanish moss on there with the bayou from the scenes from that movie.”

Sigma Sigma Sigma member Madeleine Pellerin explained how her organization designed their float for the parade.

“Our theme was ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ so we just really took inspiration from that,” said Pellerin. “Some of us stayed up until four in the morning working on our float, and they took all their time and effort. They used a lot of paint and designing paper to help create the float.”

Senior family consumer sciences major Cierra Calloway participated in the parade as a member of the Homecoming Court and now has seen the parade from a different perspective.

“I’ve been in it before on a float,” said Calloway. “So, this is my first time riding in the car, and it was so much different. The atmosphere was different, but it was a lot better. So being in the car, I got to see a lot more people.”

Calloway said that the parade was different from what she had seen before.

“I feel like it went very smoothly,” said Calloway. “However, the attendance was kind of low.”

Attendees expressed their opinions about the parade. Alumnus Bryant Faust thought that it was fun to watch.

“It was fun and exciting,” said Faust. “To be back and be back on the campus and to see how much it’s grown and changed over the years, but still be able to connect to some of the landmarks around here like the oaks and the music building, some things haven’t changed. But then a lot is really new. The jeep covered in flowers was kind of reminiscing of the Homecoming Day parades I remember back when I was here.” 

Alumna Meaghan Bouterie also shared her thoughts of the parade.

“It was actually really nice,” said Bouterie. “I was surprised of how long and well put together it was. My little girl always enjoys watching the band.”