The Homecoming Parade is an event for the whole Moscow community — not just the university.
At 10 a.m. Saturday, Main Street will transform into the site of the 109th annual University of Idaho Homecoming Parade, lined with floats, community members and students. The parade, which is a precursor to the homecoming football game at 2 p.m., will run through downtown Moscow. It will begin near the H&R Block parking lot, according to the university’s homecoming webpage. The parade will be followed by the living group open house, which takes place across campus.
File by Connor Bunderson | Argonaut
Band members march in downtown Moscow as a part of 2016’s Homecoming Parade.
“The entire event should take about an hour to an hour and a half,” Homecoming Parade Chair Alexis Murray said.
There will be a variety of floats run by different organizations on campus and throughout the community that will make their way down Main Street. Murray stressed that while the parade will be a community event, it is not limited to the students at the university. “Anyone can be involved in the entire community,” Murray said. “It’s not just the college, and that’s what I like about it.”
The parade expects about 100 entries across Moscow, Murray said. Parade floats will range from local businesses, to Greek life, clubs and some high school students. All students are encouraged to attend, Murray said.
Points will be granted to small groups, not just fraternities and sororities, Murray said. The Homecoming Committee works to outreach to residence halls to gain more student involvement during Homecoming Week. Murray said she believes students in the dorms are already more involved in homecoming events this year than.
One new float in the parade this weekend will be from the Moscow Manticores Quidditch team. Lauren Blenn, president of the quidditch team said the reason they joined the parade was to get word out about the quidditch team.
“It was mostly for visibility,” Blenn said. “A lot of people at University of Idaho do not know that University of Idaho has a quidditch team.”
Kali Nelson can be reached at [email protected]