Throwing candy towards children is always fun, at least for the children. The Homecoming Parade, on Friday, September 2nd was a fun celebration of West Bloomfield High School (WBHS) and the surrounding community. This event drew enthusiastic crowd along Green Road as they celebrated and patiently awaited the start of the Homecoming football contest against rival Stoney Creek High School.

The WBHS marching band led the parade which included club banners, floats, and convertibles driven by parent volunteers riding with the Homecoming Court. Each grade’s class council created beautiful floats based on the overarching theme of Disney. These floats required hours of hands on creative work outside of the high school setting. The freshmen celebrated Finding Nemo, while the sophomores focused on the movie Cars. The juniors resurrected the Lion King on their float, meanwhile the senior’s grand farewell finale brought us themes from the movie UP.

The float judges included Pat Watson, Heather Crewes, Meagan Nowick, Josh Johnson, Jennifer Sepetys, Sarah Ivan, Sheri Hauk, and Brooke Hurley. The freshmen stunned the judges with their first place finish, followed by the sophomores who were not far behind. The juniors and and seniors respectively finished in 3rd and 4th place.

This year, a contest was introduced to activities around the school as an incentive to create a banner and participate in the parade. Each club made their own banner, and the best banner (as judged by the Leadership class) wins $100 towards their club funds. Each club created a banner to represent their club in the parade.

Clubs walked behind the cheerleaders, with members holding up the banners and throwing candy at the parade watchers. The banner judges included Hannah Williams, Paul Jolliffe, Lorig Coe, Paula Messina, and Noel McHardy.  Banner judge Hannah Williams said that she was “shocked as to how many groups there were that had banners.” This is William’s first year teaching here, and she “learned the groups that we had within our school in addition to what they actually do and heard stories about them.” The French Club won first place, with Laker Express not far behind in second place. The Law and Politics Club and the Fashion club each tied for third place.

IASA members carry their banner in the homecoming parade.