Months of preparation from committee members and organizations will culminate tonight with the Homecoming 2005 "Heart of the Lion" parade.

"I am really excited to see all of the hard work come together," Homecoming Overall Chair Tara Burnham said.

Parade Overall Kristin Smead said all homecoming committee members and participating organizations have done a great job of preparing for the weekend.

"It will be a great parade and hopefully a little shorter this year," she said.

Public Relations Overall Jacqueline Paquet said all the events leading up to the weekend have gone smoothly and so should the parade. "My hope is that the weather will hold out," she said in reference to the week's snow and rain.

Paquet said she is excited to see homecoming committee family members, as well as the families of participating organizations, come to watch the parade and see the work that has been put into homecoming this year.

"[It is] a really special time when families are there to share it with you," Paquet said.

Christopher Sykora (junior-aerospace engineering) said that, as of yesterday, he had spent about 25 hours building a float for his organization, Engineering Leadership Development Unlimited.

Sykora said he is excited because the previous two years he had to march in the parade, but this year he will most likely be on the float.

With the parade coinciding with tonight's Kanye West concert and Halloween weekend, Sykora said he is not sure how many people will come to watch the parade this year.

"I think there will be less people, but there is a big football game so that might create a turnout," he said.

Rich Severin (sophomore-kinesiology), a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity, 225 Highland Ave., said his fraternity has been building a float and practicing for the 2005 Airbands Competition from 7 p.m. until 3 a.m. for the past few weeks.

Severin said his fraternity enjoys participating in homecoming and took fourth place in the overall competition last year. Although his fraternity would like to win the overall competition this year, he said it is fun just to be a part of the events.

"It's a little bit of both," Severin said.

During the parade, the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon theme will be announced on the side of the organization's float, Thon Public Relations Overall Jaci Christopher said.

Security Overall Erika Fauth said there are no major security concerns to anticipate for the parade.

"The main responsibility is for security to try and get people to stay out of the street," Fauth said.

She added that there is a ban on throwing candy this year because children have run into the street to catch the candy in the past, Fauth said. However, organizations will be allowed to pass out items to observers if they walk to the curb and hand items to onlookers.

Fauth said major intersections have been cut from the parade route to reduce its length and eliminate major breaks during the event. Traffic will be held at the beginning of the parade route at Curtin Road and University Drive.

The parade will travel west on Curtain Road, onto Bigler Road, then west on Pollock Road to Shortlidge Road, from which the procession will turn onto College Avenue and continue to Burrowes Street. The parade will disperse by Rec Hall.

Paquet said the entire overall committee agreed that Homecoming 2005 has already been a success, with high student participation in every event.

"I think it's already better than expected," Paquet said.