Homecoming parade shopping cart art
The shopping cart parade, part of Homecoming Week, was a grand success. Clubs and organizations all over campus participated in and attended the unique event. Photo by Keyra Kristoffersen
Occasionally, there are events in life – spectacles, if you will – that require ones presence in order to be truly believed: alien abduction, the election of Arnold the Governator and the UVU Homecoming Parade. Thankfully, that particular spectacle was witnessed by most of the school on Wednesday, Jan. 26.
Representatives from nearly every group, club, organization and faction on campus gathered, sometimes weeks in advance, to create their respective personal icon using shopping carts, cardboard, balloons that attack and, in some cases, the cute but cheap ploy of small children in costume.
These edifices of school spirit were then pushed, hauled and driven through the center of the school, tossing candy and tiny rubber basketballs to the passing class-goers and alum. Black eyes were evident, but the spirit never wavered.
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences created a President Holland dummy complete with crown, while Clubs and Organizations thrilled female passerby with a shorts-only clad boy sunbathing as he was wheeled about. The Woodbury School of Business was so intent on their design that a committee was created to ensure a thorough use of available supplies. The irony should be lost on no one.
The elaborate nature of the parade shows that it really is based in school spirit and not just the extra credit many professors are giving to members of the clubs and organizations.
“When I join a club, I help. I join to help,” says Elizabeth Merrill, a freshman in the English Department and first year member of the Latin Club. Elizabeth helped her club by playing the horse to the Latin Club’s shopping “chariot” pulling it faithfully along the parade route.
All of this gaiety was presided over by Willy the Wolverine and Mr. and Miss UVU while the green clad UVU Drumline beat out heart-pounding performances for the cheerleaders and Dance Team to shake their pompoms to. Students, faculty, and alumni cheered the men’s basketball team as they sang the good ole UV fight song. Go! Fight! UVU!