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PITTSBURG —
There’s one thing everybody agrees on. The weather couldn’t have been better for the Pittsburg State University 2012 Homecoming Parade.
There’s also agreement that this was a really good parade.
“I just came here to go to the Pittsburg Post Office, but I got here before it was open, so I thought I’d just come up and watch the parade for a few minutes,” said Steffie Peternell, Arma. “Then I’ll go on with my errands.”
She ended up standing at the corner of Seventh and Broadway, watching the entire parade.
There was a lot to see, including numerous junior high and high school bands from around Kansas, Missouri and even Oklahoma, and floats decorated in the homecoming theme of the Pitt Games (Olympics). This being an election year, there were also lots of candidates throwing lots of candy.
Dave Ashmore, Arma, was especially pleased with the bands.
“For a year or two we didn’t have any bands, but the bands are back,” he said. “It’s the bands that make the parade, I think.”
John Gaddy, who said he’s been coming to homecoming parades for about 60 years.
“I thought there was a lot of high school bands,” he said. “I saw one from Strafford, Mo., and I think that’s about 10 miles east of Springfield, Mo.”
There were also bands from Lamar, Ash Grove and Osceola, Mo., not to mention Quapaw, Okla., and Galena, Girard, Altamont, Uniontown, Caney and Cedar Vale in Kansas.
“I never heard of Cedar Vale,” Ashmore said. “I wonder where that is.”
For the record, it’s about 15 miles west of Sedan, in Chautauqua County.
Christel Benson also enjoyed the bands, but said that she was most impressed with the efforts PSU students put into their floats.
They included Gus in a hard hat with a brick wall, done by the PSU College of Construction students, and the Campus Christians depicting Gus by a stadium that had flags from many nations flying.
Several community organizations also had floats, including Victory Life Church, which has the theme “God Is Bananas for You.”
The huge amount of candy was also a plus for many.
“I think my kids got as much candy as they will for Halloween,” Benson said.
Harper Kmiec and Avery Brooksher, both Frontenac kindergarten students, liked the candy and the animals.
“I liked the dogs,” Harper said.
Four adoptable dogs were walked alongside the Pawprints on the Heartland mobile spay/neuter van.
Avery liked the horses, which were at the very end of the parade, and she knows why that is.
There’s one thing everybody agrees on. The weather couldn’t have been better for the Pittsburg State University 2012 Homecoming Parade.
There’s also agreement that this was a really good parade.
“I just came here to go to the Pittsburg Post Office, but I got here before it was open, so I thought I’d just come up and watch the parade for a few minutes,” said Steffie Peternell, Arma. “Then I’ll go on with my errands.”
She ended up standing at the corner of Seventh and Broadway, watching the entire parade.
There was a lot to see, including numerous junior high and high school bands from around Kansas, Missouri and even Oklahoma, and floats decorated in the homecoming theme of the Pitt Games (Olympics). This being an election year, there were also lots of candidates throwing lots of candy.
Dave Ashmore, Arma, was especially pleased with the bands.
“For a year or two we didn’t have any bands, but the bands are back,” he said. “It’s the bands that make the parade, I think.”
John Gaddy, who said he’s been coming to homecoming parades for about 60 years.
“I thought there was a lot of high school bands,” he said. “I saw one from Strafford, Mo., and I think that’s about 10 miles east of Springfield, Mo.”
There were also bands from Lamar, Ash Grove and Osceola, Mo., not to mention Quapaw, Okla., and Galena, Girard, Altamont, Uniontown, Caney and Cedar Vale in Kansas.
“I never heard of Cedar Vale,” Ashmore said. “I wonder where that is.”
For the record, it’s about 15 miles west of Sedan, in Chautauqua County.
Christel Benson also enjoyed the bands, but said that she was most impressed with the efforts PSU students put into their floats.
They included Gus in a hard hat with a brick wall, done by the PSU College of Construction students, and the Campus Christians depicting Gus by a stadium that had flags from many nations flying.
Several community organizations also had floats, including Victory Life Church, which has the theme “God Is Bananas for You.”
The huge amount of candy was also a plus for many.
“I think my kids got as much candy as they will for Halloween,” Benson said.
Harper Kmiec and Avery Brooksher, both Frontenac kindergarten students, liked the candy and the animals.
“I liked the dogs,” Harper said.
Four adoptable dogs were walked alongside the Pawprints on the Heartland mobile spay/neuter van.
Avery liked the horses, which were at the very end of the parade, and she knows why that is.
Watching the parade was fun and so was marching in it, according to Sydney Crapson, who plays trumpet in the Girard Middle School band.
“When I get about three-fourths of the way through it my lips are sore, I’m tired and my legs hurt,” she said. “But it’s really fun.”
Marianne Evans-Lombe marched in the same Statue of Liberty costume that she wore for a march on the war against women held on April 28. Candidates marched in party groups, and Evans-Lombe headed off the section of Democrat candidates.
“The funnest part of the whole deal is all the little kids yelling, ‘Lady Liberty, I saw you in my book at school,” Evans-Lombe said.
The downtown area was filled with parade spectators, and that was a beautiful sight to Blake Benson, Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce president.
“It just shows the relationship the community has with PSU, they really take ownership with the university,” he said. “And to see all these people in downtown Pittsburg is really great.”
