Washed in the light of the stage at the Homecoming Bonfire Friday evening, Mary Beth Staben shouted over hundreds of screaming Vandals.
“I just love the noise,” she said, standing beside her husband, University of Idaho President Chuck Staben.
And noise there was.
Irish Martos | Argonaut
Homecoming King and Queen Nate Fisher and Anna Pratt talk at the Bonfire Rally Friday evening.
It began atop the hill overlooking the UI Golf Course, where the Vandal Marching Band was waiting and ready to lead the Serpentine march to the annual Homecoming Bonfire. The parade to the Kibbie Dome started at 8 p.m. sharp – but the marching band had started long before that.
Marching band members donned glow sticks, capes, ship captain hats, wigs and Vandal horns.
“It”s kind of a party – it”s tons of fun,” said Jake Snarr, a drummer in the marching band.
For many students, it was their first time witnessing the annual spectacle. As freshman Gaby Broden walked behind the Serpentine, she said she was surprised by how wild the event was.
“I thought there would just be a few people here,” she said.
There were a few more than that. As Serpentine wound down New Greek Row and onto Old Greek Row, students poured out of houses to join the fray. Besides the students, dozens of families and alumni lined the street for the festivities.
Many walked alongside the band, and several jumped right in and marched with them. A few drummers peeled away from the march to run through a crowd gathered in front of Gamma Phi Beta sorority, popping loud staccato notes on their drums.
As the procession made its way to the Kibbie Dome, the crowd only multiplied as more students from Greek houses and residence halls joined the crowd.
The marching band arrived in the Kibbie Dome parking lot, blasting a final round of the Fight Song for the now-hundreds of spectators.
With the final, thunderous cheer, a second rally began. Not of the marching band, but of Vandal coaches and athletes who made their way across the stage to take the microphone one by one to shout cheers through booming speakers.
It wasn”t like the crowd needed the encouragement.
The shoulder-to-shoulder spectators hushed themselves for the announcement of Homecoming King and Queen. Nominees were called to the stage one by one. A pair of red sashes gleamed in the harsh white light. Finally, the announcement came.
UI 2015 Homecoming King and Queen: Nate Fisher and Anna Pratt.
The crowd roared with excitement.
The winners” friends swarmed the side of the stage, Snapchat open on their phones, ready to capture a moment of electricity with the reigning Homecoming Royalty.
“It”s such an honor,” Pratt said from beneath a pile of hugs from her friends.
“Overjoyed,” Fisher said of his reaction. “Over the moon. On top of the world. Any of those three.”
Nate Fisher Sr., the newly crowned Homecoming King”s dad, was less articulate, screaming as he twirled circles in the air with the glow sticks around his wrists.
“You can write that his father is giddy,” Fisher Sr. said while jumping up and down.
Meanwhile, firefighters were setting a 10-foot stack of pallets alight for the Homecoming Bonfire. The flames grew slowly then erupted all at once, causing spectators to throw their hands up. Some were surprised by the heat but others because they knew a selfie opportunity when they saw one.
For Iain Ferguson, the Homecoming Bonfire is part of a larger culture that”s foreign to him, but that just makes the night a treat. Ferguson is a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.
“Our school doesn”t have a band,” Ferguson said. “We”ll get to tailgate (here). We”re going to the game – we all bought our tickets online.”
His house, along with two sororities from Lethbridge, go on a homecoming road trip every year to partake in the homecoming festivities of American universities.
“It”s a lot of fun,” he said. “It”s fun to meet people from other fraternities. We”ve been openly welcomed.”
Unlike Ferguson, the homecoming spirit isn”t foreign to alumni Dennis Bines. For Bines, who graduated from UI in 1971, the festivities just bring back memories.
“We try to come every year,” Bines said. “The kids enjoy it. The grandkids enjoy it.”
He said much has changed since he was a student – but there”s just as much that hasn”t.
“Everyone is still just proud to be a Vandal,” he said. “That hasn”t changed.”
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @itshannah7