After hours of pomping and bending chicken wire, the efforts of more than 300 organizations paid off Friday as they strutted their stuff and showed their spirit along the route of the 2001 Homecoming Parade.
Spectators hung from light posts and windowsills to get the best view of the three-hour parade as it made its way through campus and down College Avenue.
"Celebrate Old State," this year's overall homecoming theme, was represented in many ways by various student and community organizations. Figures of football coach Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lion sat atop many floats; other Penn State symbols included the Loop and The Creamery.
Popular movies, fairy tales and television shows also were recreated, such as the Undergraduate Student Government's float, "It's a Small World."
In combination of the Penn State and popular culture elements, the Penn State Marketing Association and Phi Gamma Nu fraternity titled their float "JoePa and the Beanstalk."
American pride was another prevalent theme at this year's parade.
Members of the Centre County United Way were stationed throughout the parade route to sell miniature American flags for a dollar donation.
The float by Sigma Alpha Mu, 329 E. Prospect Ave, and Kappa Alpha Theta contained a New York skyline, a figure of Joe Paterno and a Statue of Liberty Nittany Lion.
The parade also was a competitive event. Organizations were divided into two divisions — blue and white. Those in the blue division were paired fraternities and sororities, those in the white division were non-paired or non-IFC and Panhellenic organizations.
Seven judges were stationed in front of the University Gates on South Allen Street to grade each competing float.
"I look for overall completeness," said Carolyn Todd, one of the judges. Todd, a professor in the Smeal College of Business, said the job was a lot of fun and added the judging was "very subjective."
Float winners were announced yesterday morning at an awards ceremony at the Nittany Lion Inn. The top honor handed out was the overall award, given to the organization that did best in all of the homecoming events, including the parade, window painting, the Nittany Pursuit scavenger hunt and the Airband Competition. Overall winner in the blue division was Tau Epsilon Phi, 328 E. Foster Ave., and Theta Alpha Pi. Alpha Kappa Lambda won for the white division.
Best floats were recognized in each division. Tau Epsilon Phi and Theta Alpha Pi were also victorious in this category for their "Duck Tales" float. Alpha Chi Sigma's, 406 S. Pugh St., and Phi Sigma Pi and Creamery float won best float in the white division.
Homecoming Public Relations Chair Jamie Schneider said this was the first year that student emcees served as live announcers. Ally Welsh and Lance Marquardt offered commentary on each passing group from the tent at University Gates on South Allen Street.
There were several local celebrities in the parade, including State College Mayor Bill Welch, Miss Penn State Sara Fragassi and former astronaut and this year's grand marshal, Jim Pawelczyk.
Other personalities included University Post Office mailmen Mike Herr and Don Plotts. Holding signs imploring students to bring them cookies, the pair drew a loud response from the crowd.
Chapters of the Penn State Alumni Association showed their spirit, coming from such distant locations as Utah and Florida.
"This parade is so much better than when I was a student . . . This is so amazing. It's grown so much," Maryann Bucknum-Brinley said. A resident of New Jersey, this was the fifth time Brinley has come back to the parade since graduating in 1970.
The parade was followed by a fireworks display on the HUB-Robeson Center lawn and a pep rally at Old Main for Saturday's football game against Southern Mississippi.
