After an eight-year absence, Perry will host a Homecoming parade this fall.
The Perry Area Chamber of Commerce will be the official sponsor of the event, which will be held Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 6:30 p.m. according to Dave Wright, a director with the PACC. The last Homecoming parade held in Perry was in 2007.
“We will be using a little different route than people are used to,” Wright said. “The lineup will be held along Third and Fourth Streets on either side of the Fareway parking lot. From there we will proceed down Willis Avenue to the east, turn north on 18th Street and finish at the high school.”
Perry will play Gilbert at Dewey Field on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. With the Leon Fox Invitational cross country meet already scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 29, the parade was moved back one day.
It is expected that the annual pep rally, king and queen coronation and bonfire will still be held on Thursday of Homecoming week.
“As of now this is just a one-year experiment,” Wright said. “If it goes well, who knows? I would love to see it every year, and anyone who feels the same way needs to step up and help any way they can.”
Wright said his hope was that each class (frosh, soph, etc.) would have a float and be “partnered with and sponsored by” one or more area businesses.
He added that planning was still in the initial stages but that he hoped to have a much firmer grasp of the details well before the start of the school year.
ThePerryNews.com conducted a survey last year regarding the celebration of Homecoming at Perry and select other schools. None hold the popular “Volunteer Day” conducted by Perry on the Wednesday of spirit week and only Gilbert joins Perry in holding a bonfire.
School* Parade Coronation Dance Bonfire Windows**
ADM YES THURS SAT NO NO
Algona YES FRI FRI 1 NO
Ballard YES THURS SAT NO YES
Bondurant-Farrar YES MON SAT NO NO
Boone YES FRI SAT NO 2
Carlisle YES THURS SAT NO NO
Carroll YES THURS SAT NO YES
Dallas Center-Grimes YES THURS SAT NO NO
Gilbert YES THURS SAT YES NO
Greene County YES FRI 3 NO YES
Humboldt YES FRI FRI NO NO
Ogden YES FRI FRI NO YES
Panorama NO WEDS SAT NO NO
Webster City YES THURS SAT NO NO
Winterset YES FRI SAT NO NO
Woodward-Granger YES THURS SAT NO NO
——————-
Perry NO THURS FRI YES ??
- — List is taken from current Raccoon River Conference teams, district football opponents (from 2014-2015) and three area schools. North Polk did not answer repeated requests for information.
** — Denotes the decoration of downtown/area business windows. Perry did not decorate (aside from in the school itself); all schools do some sort of school window or classroom door decorations.
1 — Algona has an outdoor pep rally, but small fire pits are used instead of a bonfire.
2 — Boone students are allowed to decorate the pavement on four streets surrounding the football field; business windows are not decorated by students, though some do so on their own accord.
3 — Greene County does not have a Homecoming Dance; a post-game “Stand Around” for students is held in the parking lot.
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