Float along!

It’s homecoming time at Maryville College! The school has many exciting events planned for both the current student body and alumni. One of the biggest attractions every year for both students and alumni is the homecoming parade. Every year there is a sea of orange and garnet that will engulf the campus the in the school spirit.

To add to the festivities there are always floats of some kind, one of the ones that I remember the best is the Homecoming King and Queen float from my freshman year.

There were orange and garnet balloons tied to it and a lot of frills of orange and garnet fabric all along the edges. Seeing that float in the homecoming parade is one of my all-time favorite memories at Maryville College.

In doing some research of the floats that have appeared in the Homecoming parade, it is clear that there are a ton of wonderful memories that have been captured over the years. In one of the pictures that I saw, showed a train made out of plastic barrels. Not only was this wildly creative, but the barrels are cut in such a way that children can ride in them.

In another image you could see in the distance a tall stack of orange and garnet balloons tied to a trailer adorning the candidates for the king and queen.

Through these pictures we see the way that the imagination of the student body has evolved over the years. So here is the question: where do these wonderful, and creative floats come from? How do they come to be?

Well, here on the college campus there are student run organizations. Such as MC Gamers or the Residence Hall Association, and every year these various organizations come up with ideas for these floats that show school spirit, the creativity of the student body, and the talent that is within each and every person in these organizations.

I spoke with the Vice President of the MC Gamers, Justin Keisker a sophomore here at Maryville College, and when asked what the plans were for the float this year his response was, “Game themed!” He proceeds to laugh, “Honestly, we have several ideas floating around at the moment, but we definitely are going with some kind of game theme.” He didn’t reveal all that much about the organizations plans; however, he did allude to the idea that they would most definitely keep with the spirit of the college and the MC Gamers organization.

From the research that I have done and from talking to people within some of the organizations it is clear that at least some are planning to continue the tradition of making a float to
represent both themselves and the college.

To show the spirit of the school through the joy of the school colors and hanging out with both current students and alumni. I asked Justin what his favorite part about being a part of the parade was. After thinking for a long moment he grins and chuckles, “Probably waving at everyone in the crowd to be honest.”

When looking back over the years, the Homecoming parade is a tradition that has evolved and added rich memories to the school. With the added touches of the floats and the smiles of the people in the parade and watching the parade add a warmth and joy into the memories of the pictures that capture the event every year.

It seems to grow every year and improve, I suppose that it is true that things get better with age. We are floating along with the ideas of the organizations who create these floats.

Continue to float along and to keep the Maryville College spirit alive with your Homecoming Floats, we look forward to see what all you come up with for the Maryville College Homecoming Parade on Oct. 27 2018 at 1:00 p.m. Rock on and continue to wow us with your talent!

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