Homecoming is a time for students, community and alumni to come together and celebrate what makes them wild, Warrior Spirit.

This year’s homecoming theme was “Wild with Warrior Pride” and to embody the spirit of “Wild,” what better way to celebrate than marching through the streets of Winona with Winona State clubs, teams and community members.

This year’s annual Homecoming Parade took place on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. on Huff Street, and made its way from Broadway to Mark streets.

Megan Weilandt, junior mass communication advertising major is head of the homecoming parade committee this year.

“The Homecoming Parade is like a typical parade with walking units, vehicle units and floats,” Weilandt said. “However, it is unique because its focus is clubs and organizations at WSU with some community organizations here and there.”

Following this year’s theme of “Wild with Warrior Pride” the homecoming committee asked that groups participate in the theme while in the parade.   

“We have three to five judges placed along the route to rate the groups on, creativity, perceived effort, and adherence to the theme/school spirit,” Weilandt said.

Not only does it follow theme and spread spirit amongst the parade and crowd, a prize was involved as well.

“The top 3 units receive a prize for their club of $150 for first place, $100 for second place, and $75 for third place,” Weilandt said.   

Following theme, Hailey Seipel, junior majoring in English: applied & professional writing, embodied this year’s theme with her club Her Campus in multiple ways.

“We’re going to be wearing animal-print clothes and handing out Zebra Cakes to the kids, we even glued googly eyes onto the packages to make them come to life,” Seipel said.

Many clubs make it tradition to walk in the parade, while for some clubs this was the first year they  tried it out.

“This is our very first year walking in the parade as a club, so we couldn’t be more excited to participate,” Seipel said. “We are walking this year because we value immersing our club into the community, not to mention it’s a great opportunity for us to show how proud we are to be Warriors.”

Weilandt said that showing off Warrior Pride is important for many clubs and organizations on campus making the parade a hit year after year for students, the community and alumni.

“We have 39 clubs, sports teams and organizations from WSU signed up. We also have 11 community entries, as well as 15 others for a total of 65 units,” Weilandt said.

The homecoming parade offered a fun, safe event that all students, staff, alumni and the community could come together and show off their wild Warrior Spirit.

“Homecoming means coming together and supporting the different groups represented in the community and on campus, ranging from our sports teams to our clubs to our local businesses,” Seipel said. “It means showing our Warrior Pride for everyone.”