It wouldn’t be a proper Homecoming celebration here at Murray State without a parade to light up Main Street. The annual event brings out the creativity of the many participants and their floats.
While this event is special for all participants, no one puts more effort into the creation of their parade floats and dedication to the set theme than the upbeat, zealous Greek Life members.
Emily Warren, Panhellenic president, said some of the Greek organizations have already begun preparing their floats for the parade.
“We are already starting to work on pomping,” Warren said. “I can probably speak for most of the organizations (that) the two to three weeks before Homecoming is just constant, pomping, constantly decorating the float and it’s a big deal.”
Despite the parade only lasting around 30 minutes to an hour, the Greeks put weeks of effort into decorating their floats to match the theme set for the year. ‘Holiday,’ the theme for this year’s parade, will feature popular holidays like Mardi Gras and the Fourth of July. Due to the limited amount of “bigger” holidays, there are a few organizations that will be sharing a specific holiday.
Secrecy is everything for the organizations participating in the creation of homecoming floats, as their chosen “theme” is kept hidden until it is showcased during the parade.
“It’s kind of a secret,” Warren said. “Nobody really gets to know until the day of. Nobody knows ours. We don’t know anybody else’s.”
The theme of the parade was chosen by Kate Drueke, the 2024-2025 Homecoming Chair, who said she started thinking about Homecoming ideas the moment she was selected as the chair.
“I knew I wanted to create a name within the theme that goes along with Murray State somehow,” Drueke said. “I immediately thought of ‘it’s a national holiday’ (and) making it ‘it’s a Racer holiday.’”
Drueke was further inspired by a notable saying from the previous Student Government Association (SGA) adviser Jeanie Morgan.
“Jeanie always said, ‘Murray State Homecoming is better than Christmas,’” Drueke said. “We thought this was the perfect opportunity to pick ‘It’s a Racer Holiday’ since Jeanie will be the Grand Marshal for this year’s parade.”
Beyond the parade, Homecoming festivities set to begin the week prior to Homecoming weekend, with pop-up events like custom crystal etching and the handing out of 500 foam fingers.
Kade Gambill, student activities coordinator and SGA adviser, said SGA has been preparing for this year’s Homecoming since the conclusion of the previous one.
“I think the events during the week, that’s the first time that I’ve seen something like that (happen),” Gambill said. “I think that will be really exciting because it will get students really excited for the weekend.”The Homecoming Parade will begin at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 19. Line up along Main Street to catch a view of the parade.
