East Aurora High School’s homecoming parade is coming back, after the school opted not to hold it for a number of years.
Following a week of homecoming festivities, the high school’s first homecoming parade in a while will take place on Friday afternoon.
It’s set to step off at 4 p.m. near the high school, and it will precede a home football game against Elgin’s Larkin High School at 7 p.m., according to the district.
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The district hasn’t had a homecoming parade since at least the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Noel De La Mar, East Aurora High School’s assistant principal of athletics and activities.
But then, around the end of last school year, East Aurora School District Superintendent Bob Halverson approached De La Mar and Mariza Martinez, the assistant director of East Aurora’s Resilience Education Center, to get the ball rolling on making it happen this year.
“There’s such a sense of pride in the community,” Halverson told The Beacon-News, pointing to his own memories of East Aurora games when he was younger.
Two of his primary goals as superintendent, he says, have been fostering a “sense of belonging for all” and strengthening community partnerships.
And Halverson said it’s been a conscious district effort recently to foster school pride — including through extracurricular activities, which he credited with helping students stay involved at school.
For example, the district has been doing themed nights for its football games, and boys football and girls volleyball have been seeing higher attendance levels, according to Halverson. The district also recently brought back its middle school football team.
So a homecoming parade seemed like another possible way to get the school community more involved, according to De La Mar.
The parade is just one part of a week of activities, according to East Aurora High School Principal Kevin Marten.
Currently, the school is hosting a spirit week in anticipation of Friday’s game and Saturday’s homecoming dance. Monday meant students coming to school in pajamas, according to Marten, and students were tasked on Tuesday with bringing their books to school in “anything but a backpack.”
The district’s push for greater involvement by way of the upcoming festivities goes beyond just the student body. For example, De La Mar said he’s worked to get class reunions to come back for homecoming — and several are happening amid this year’s celebration.
“They really get the whole high school experience, right? When you can make it around a football game,” he said.
And, in addition to student groups marching, Friday’s parade will also have parent groups taking part.
The route will start by the tennis courts near Phillips Park, De La Mar said, and will go down Smith Boulevard and onto Fifth Avenue, all near the high school building.
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Right now, the parade is a high school-focused event, but De La Mar said it would be his goal to make it district-wide eventually.
But, in the meantime, he’s optimistic about what bringing an event like this back can do.
“The more we can get our community, even if they, you know, have kids in the district, don’t have kids in the district … it’s providing a bright spot for East Aurora,” De La Mar said. “It’s giving an opportunity to display what our kids do.”
Marten, similarly, said he’s hoping for a high turnout, and is looking forward to it being an annual tradition again.
“I think it was a really cool tradition, and kind of sad that they went away,” Marten said of homecoming parades more generally. “I just think it’s a really unique opportunity that we have to bring something like that back and use it as a point of celebration for the community.”