IUP's annual Homecoming celebration, October 7–10, 2010, is expected to draw thousands to Indiana for alumni reunions and events for the entire community, including the Pregame in the Oak Grove festival, the parade, and the football game.
The Homecoming parade, with a theme of “Cartoons Remembered,” will start at 10:00 a.m. October 9. It will feature nearly seventy campus and community units, including five floats depicting cartoons from the 1990s and early 2000s: Rocket Power, Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants, the Angry Beavers, and Hey Arnold!
For the fourth year, the parade route includes the IUP Oak Grove as a spectator area and is the site of the Pregame in the Oak Grove festival, free and open to all members of the community. The festival will be from 10:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and includes the Kidz Karnival, formerly held on North Seventh Street in downtown Indiana. Organized by the IUP Ambassadors student group, this festival features a variety of children's events with cartoon characters, games, crafts and prizes.
Pregame in the Oak Grove also will offer food from different vendors throughout the region, music by marching bands from the parade, music by a disc jockey, and the chance to have photos taken with the IUP cheerleaders and mascot Norm, the Crimson Hawk.
The parade will start at Thirteenth and Philadelphia streets and travel east to Sixth and Philadelphia streets, south on Sixth Street to Church Street, west on Church Street to Oakland Avenue, and southwest on Oakland Avenue to Eleventh Street, where the parade will disband.
All motor-driven floats will continue southwest on Oakland Avenue to the Robertshaw building for disassembly.
Firing of the IUP department of military science's howitzer cannon, which will be near the Indiana County Court House, will signal the start of the parade.
Immediately following the parade, more than one hundred IUP student volunteers will work to clean up the parade route.
Two members of IUP's class of 1960 will serve as grand marshals for this year's parade. They are Bernard A. Moreau, of Homer City, a retired professor from IUP, and Robert C. Shoemaker, of Butler, a retired school administrator from Seneca Valley Schools.
Four marching bands will be in the parade, representing these schools: IUP, Indiana Area Senior High School, Marion Center High School, and Purchase Line High School.
IUP's Homecoming representatives will also appear in the parade. This year is the start of a new tradition: IUP will have a Crimson Court instead of a Homecoming king and queen. The Crimson Court consists of seven students chosen by a universitywide vote who represent each of the colleges at IUP and IUP's Punxsutawney campus. To qualify for the Crimson Court, students must have a minimum 3.0 cumulative grade-point average and be in good judicial standing at IUP.
Crimson Court members will be invited to participate in all universitywide Homecoming activities and will be featured at appropriate academic department and college events.
The following students were selected for the first Crimson Court at IUP:
- Eberly College of Business and Information Technology: Christie Rocco, a marketing major from Northern Cambria
- College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics: Katie Tidwell, a psychology major from Indiana
- College of Education and Educational Technology: Heather Weleski, a special education and clinical services major from Fenelton
- College of Fine Arts: Jack Salter, a music major from Erie
- College of Humanities and Social Sciences: Tiffany Dyer, an English major from Indiana
- College of Health and Human Services: Adel Albalushi, a hospitality management major from Saudi Arabia
- IUP at Punxsutawney: Marquis Graham-Budd, a criminology major from Philadelphia
Presentation of the parade float prizewinners will be held in the Oak Grove at 11:45 a.m.
Judges for the float competition are Claire Hogan, of Indiana, a former Indiana Borough Council member; Michael Hood, dean of the College of Fine Arts; Colin O'Brien, IUP student; and Sherry Renosky, IUP alumna and marketing manager of the Indiana Mall.
Float awards and their sponsoring organizations are as follows: first place, $1,000, IUP Alumni Association; second place, $900, Indiana Mall Association; third place, $800, Co-op Store; fourth place, $700, Student Government Association; fifth place, $600, Foundation for IUP; and sixth place, $500, American Water.
Renda Broadcasting will be in the parade broadcasting live. A re-broadcast of the parade will be shown later in October on IUP-TV.
Other traditional Homecoming events include the Crimson Huddle alumni pre-game picnic, open to all alumni and friends, at 11 a.m. in a tent on the practice fields behind Miller Stadium. The Homecoming football game begins at 2 p.m., with the Crimson Hawks facing Mercyhurst College.
The Crimson Court and parade float prize sponsors will be recognized during halftime. The halftime show will also feature the IUP Marching Band, under the direction of Dr. David Martynuik. The band will present the post-game show at the stadium immediately following the game.
The Fifth Quarter Celebration, open to all alumni, will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Upstairs at the Coney, along Philadelphia Street.
Weekend events close with the annual Homecoming concert, featuring the IUP Concert Band, Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band at 3:00 p.m. October 10 in the Performing Arts Center's Fisher Auditorium.
Tickets for the concert are available in advance at the Hadley Union Building ticket office on the IUP campus. Tickets remaining can be purchased at the door forty-five minutes before the start of the performance. Tickets are $9 for regular admission, $8 for seniors and groups, and $6 for students with an I-Card and children.
For more information about the Homecoming concert, call the Fine Arts Public Events Office at 724-357-2547 or the Hadley Union Building ticket office at 724-357-1313.
A complete list of Homecoming events is available on the Homecoming website.