Today’s Staff Editorial
The annual homecoming parade will be replaced with a pep rally on McKeldin Mall this year, ending a long-standing university tradition that began way back in 1923.
Wait — there was a homecoming parade? That was a thing?
Unlike most revered Terrapins traditions, the parade just never seemed to garner enough student interest or enthusiasm to warrant its existence. According to a survey conducted by the Student Homecoming Committee in 2012, 43 percent of students didn’t even know the parade existed.
While we value the historical traditions and pride of this university, we find it difficult to mourn this change. Instead, we applaud the efforts of the Student Homecoming Committee to come up with an event that may actually generate student engagement. An energized effort to revive homecoming weekend may be exactly what this university needs.
On Friday, Oct. 25, homecoming events will fill the mall from 3 to 10 p.m., making for a full day of festivities. If executed properly, this event should look something like the atmosphere that Student Entertainment Events creates on the mall for Art Attack each year, with the feel of a family-friendly carnival where students, alumni, parents and children can feel comfortable celebrating.
So far, the committee has announced a slate of performances and a variety of activities that should help build that carnival atmosphere. Honoring the 100th anniversary of Greek life on the campus, there will be a step show from the university’s historically black fraternities and sororities, along with the winning skits from the Greek life competition.
Plans also call for food vendors and interactive games for families with children. To keep alumni interested, a beer garden will open at 6 p.m. The Mighty Sound of Maryland will close out the night by leading a pre-gameday pep rally, followed by a fireworks display.
On paper, this sounds like a nearly perfect way to host a homecoming. If it’s competently organized and executed, it could be a major success for this university.
Parades are, by nature, passive experiences for attendees: They stand around and watch the floats, cheering for members of the campus community and university leadership. It’s a nice concept, but ultimately a boring event.
These new festivities, on the other hand, make for an immersive, interactive day — a day students might actually get excited about, a day that might also get alumni pumped for the football game and a day that might entice families to stay on the campus throughout the afternoon into the evening.
Traditions are nice, but sadly, homecoming weekend has transformed into a tradition with little fanfare. In this case, we say: Out with the old, in with the new. While the parade felt like an honorary ritual, this has the chance to become something bigger.
