Kim Tavares, Miami’s executive director for its Alumni Association, said that in preparing for homecoming, leaders felt the parade aligned with the goals of wanting to bring back events that would appeal to both alumni and local community members.
“We are trying to bring some of these things back that people might remember from their time on campus,” Tavares said. “With our history and tradition, and our alumni really hold Miami in a special place, and a lot of them have memories of a homecoming parade.”
Tavares said that demand for the parade’s reinstatement was felt in recent years, but with COVID-19 restrictions still in place, that wasn’t a reality yet.
“We’re all coming through this and just looking for new ways to connect with each other and with our community,” Tavares said. ‘We got a lot of questions about [the parade] over the last few years, and we’ve talked about it when I became executive director, and then COVID-19 hit us to keep us from being able to do that.”
Tavares said that multiple high school bands in the area would be playing alongside both Miami’s band and Miami’s alumni band. Multiple student organizations on the campus will also be in attendance and will participate with floats, signs, and candy to pass out to spectators.
“We have such a broad base and this is something that for us, is a really good, easy way to unify people and get them back to Oxford,” Tavares said.
Sarah Templeton-Wilson, a 2003 Miami graduate and president of the Miami University Alumni Band, said she was excited to be involved in the homecoming parade coming back to Oxford.
“We usually have around 100 alumni that come back every year to perform a pregame show,” Templeton-Wilson said. “It has been quite a few years since we have had a full reunion, so we are very excited.”
Will Bauer, a graduate student majoring in accountancy, is the co-executive chair of the Miami University Student Foundation (MUSF). Bauer said that MUSF is in charge of leading the effort to spread awareness for other student organizations to join in on the parade.
“We thought it’s a great opportunity to get school spirit back on campus,” Bauer said. “It’ll be a good time.”
Bauer said that MUSF’s members will also be helping to put together a float, honoring Miami’s history in the parade, as well as passing out candy to those in attendance.
“We’re going to be decorating a trailer with all kinds of things, I think we’re going with a history of Miami theme, we’re super excited about it,” Bauer said. “I really feel like this is a positive way to get the Miami spirit back and people posted.”
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