Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Organizers of Saturday’s homecoming parade had planned weeks in advance to start the parade at 10 a.m. They had the parade’s route, participants and schedule all set up and confirmed. Then, ESPN decided to make things a little bit more difficult.
The network announced Monday, Oct. 13, that it would be televising Saturday’s Kansas-Texas Tech football game from Lawrence and that it would begin at 11 a.m. Whoops.
The Alumni Band performs in the homecoming parade last year. This year's parade on Saturday has been moved from 10 a.m. to 9 a.m. because ESPN will begin televising the Kansas-Texas Tech football game at 11 a.m.
That meant the organizers had to change the parade’s start time to 9 a.m. They had less than two weeks to contact each of the parade’s 45 groups to make sure the new schedule would work.
“We had to make sure everybody could still make it that early,” said Tizzi Noblot, St. Louis senior and parade co-chairwoman. “We have some groups coming from Kansas City, Mo., and now we have to start signing people in about 7:30. Getting people there that early is just a hassle.”
With the game starting just two hours after the parade, organizers are worried that early morning tailgaters could crowd the streets and make it difficult to get both the parade’s participants and spectators in the right places on time.
“We have to somehow get everyone onto Jayhawk Boulevard at the Union before the traffic gets into town,” Noblot said. “Otherwise, we won’t be able to get all 45 groups lined up on time.”
The parade’s staging area is near the construction zone for the Oread Inn. In years past, organizers have used Indiana Street to line up the groups, but because it’s closed this semester it caused even more problems. Now, the floats are having to reach Jayhawk Boulevard via 12th Street — a much steeper incline.
“That’s another problem because we’re having issues getting everyone to the Union without using Indiana Street,” Noblot said. “We’re concerned with getting the floats up the steep hill because normally we just take them up Indiana Street but this year we have to take them up 12th, which is obviously way steeper for a huge float.”
The parade’s route will run from the Kansas Union down Jayhawk Boulevard to the Chi Omega fountain. The close proximity of the game and parade gives students and spectators the opportunity to stop and see the parade before walking down the hill for the game.
“It’s right on the way,” said Jade May, Osage City sophomore. “I didn’t go last year but we might stop by since the timing works out.”
While organizers can’t spill the beans on some of the parade’s surprises, Noblot said it could be one of the best homecoming parades ever, despite all of the problems.
“There’s a big ending, I can tell you that,” Noblot said. “Our theme is ‘Hail to the Hawk’ so everything is based around that. Everybody should wake up a little bit earlier and come watch the parade on their way down to the game. It’s going to be a good time.”
— — Edited by Andy Greenhaw
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