Homecoming was a pretty big deal that year because it marked the 30th anniversary of the Almena and Long Island schools consolidating and celebrating their first homecoming. It was held on a Saturday afternoon and we played a school from Oklahoma. The rumor was that Barry Sanders' brother was their coach, but I never heard if that was true or not. I couldn't tell you if we won or lost the game, but it was pretty fun to have a game on a Saturday afternoon.
During the weekend before, all of the classes decorated their class windows on the downtown businesses of Almena. Our school didn't have a set homecoming theme, so it was up to each class to come up with a creative spirit window and float, and a pep rally skit. This was also back in the day when we actually painted the windows, instead of hanging up posters. Half of the fun of window painting was also painting the windows on your cars. I remember lots of cars with a big "BYA" on the window. Our coaches didn't like that saying, even though we assured them it stood for "Beautiful Young Athletes." They didn't buy it.
We had a spirit week contest the week leading up to the game with different dress up themes for each day. I'm sure there was a Come as You Are day, aka pajama day, and a hat, sunglasses and t-shirt day. Those two were always a given. It was also always a given for some of the teachers to dress up with us. Looking back, I'd say my favorite days were probably biker day and t-shirt day because usually by the end of t-shirt day, someone would have something obscene written on their shirt that we would all find hilarious and be in trouble for.
The bonfire was the night before the game, usually at the baseball field in Almena, and in this case it was on Friday night. It really wasn't much more than a pep rally around a big bonfire. The cheerleaders rode in on the fire truck and did silly cheers. Boom Chicka Boom ring a bell for anyone? The football boys made a stuff dummy of the opposing team to throw in the fire, then the senior boys each gave a pep talk. Then we ran around town like a bunch of wild banshees - something we called The Snake. I think we were pretty easily entertained back then. Probably more so than kids are these days...
Saturday morning was the parade and pep rally. Usually the parade consists of the band, class floats, homecoming royalty candidates' cars, and maybe a fire truck or two. If you blinked, you'd miss it. Since it was the 30th anniversary celebration, the Student Council invited all of the kings and queens from the last 30 years to ride in the parade, which made it longer, and probably better, than usual. Our class was known to come up with some pretty kick-butt float ideas. The year we played Lenora, our theme was "Wipe Out the Wildcats," complete with an outhouse, toilet paper decorations and toilet thrones for our class attendants. We also tried a version of the Shriners' cars with golf carts and I think we tried to build a rocket out of a dismantled grain silo one year. But we saved our best for last with our tiki king Husky carrier. The guys made it out of trees they cut down from who knows where...I'll have to see what pictures I can dig up.
The pep rally and class skits followed the parade, right snack dab in the middle if downtown. Traffic really isn't an issue in Almena! 1998 was the debut of the then-sophomores' version of the Spice Girls, one of which was my future husband. I'm still not sure what they were thinking with that one...but from then on, cross-dressing seemed to be a prevalent theme in the class skits. Skits never seemed to be our wheelhouse.
The game was that afternoon and I remember it was a beautiful, fall day for football. The coronation was held during halftime. Since our school is so small, each class selects attendants and the seniors pick two girls and two guys for the student body to vote on for king and queen. Our class chose Clint, Ashley, Lacey and me that year. During the coronation, the guys and girls are escorted to each other by their moms and dads, respectively. Then they walk out to midfield for the traditional homecoming kiss, which always draws a lot of oohs and aahs from the crowd, and some groans when the attendants opt for just a hug. It seems so cheesy writing about it now, but back then it was such a big deal! Kind of like most things were in high school. Ashley and Lacey were king and queen; Clint and I, prince and princess.
Festivities always ended with the dance. Our dances weren't really anything special, although a few of us could really get down to Getttin' Jiggy With It.
I haven't been to homecoming in a few years. I hope some of the silly traditions, like The Snake, are still surviving, but I also hope that new traditions are also being formed. But I hope the tradition of homecoming being one of highlights of the year will always remain. What are some of your favorite homecoming memories?
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