The University of Memphis’ Boo & Gray Homecoming Week will kick off on Oct. 26 with a pep rally and parade. The U of M Alumni Association and the Student Activities Council are sponsoring the event.
Traffic flow surrounding U of M campus will be affected throughout the parade.
“Patterson Street, Walker Avenue, and Zach Curlin Street will be affected. Central Avenue will remain open during the entire event,” Assistant Vice President of Administration and Chief of Police Bruce Harber said via email.
According to the email, the parade will begin at 3:00 p.m. and should last approximately one hour. The parade will travel west on Walker Avenue and north on Patterson Street. It will then enter the campus, traveling east on DeSoto Avenue, north on State Street, west on Veterans Avenue, north on Innovation Drive, east on Norriswood Avenue to the McWherter Library, and then south to the Student Activities Plaza where the parade will end. The pep rally will take place on the Student Activities Plaza.
The Homecoming Parade has taken place since the 1970s. Library office associate Frankie Perry was excited for the event.
“Homecoming is a representative of our university,” Perry said. “Everyone should be out there rooting and having a great time. It is a time for celebration. Homecoming represents us as a unit, as a team, because we support our Tigers. Homecoming is a motivator for our Tigers and I am a proud Tiger.”
In the previous years, the parade was held on campus and widely attended by U of M students. In 2013, the SAC decided to try a different approach by having the parade at the Liberty Bowl Stadium.
The attendance was not as high as it had been when it was held on campus. In an effort to get more students to attend, the SAC agreed to host the homecoming parade on campus once again, according to University Traditions Chair of SAC Tonika Ingram.
All this leads up to the University of Memphis football team taking on Tulsa at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m. on Oct. 31.
Organizations and groups on campus wishing to enter a float or walk in the parade must complete and submit an application form online by Oct. 22.
Line up will begin at 1:15 p.m. at the intersection of Central Avenue and Zach Curlin Street. For more information contact alumniassociation@memphis.edu or 901-678-2586.
