Wayne State College held its homecoming parade on Saturday, Oct. 5, marching down Main Street to end at the Willow Bowl.

The parade started at 9:30 a.m. and lasted until 10:30 a.m. Bands from surrounding high schools marched with the parade floats along with the WSC Marching band.

Sarah Gunion, WSC’s student activities coordinator, said a total of 13 bands and 25 floats marched in the parade. The winner of the contest was the Black Student Association. The second-place winner was the WSC Athlete float. The homecoming royalty float came in third.

“Overall, it was a nice little parade,” Kristine Niemann, a 1997 WSC alumna, said. “My favorite part was the bands. I was never into music when I was in high school or college but it’s great to see community involvement. My daughter Linsey was part of the Wayne High marching band and she loved being part of it. Being a Wayne State alum, there wasn’t as much dorm and group floats involved like there was in the past. I would have liked to have seen more creativity from the groups that are involved on campus.”

Niemann said she hasn’t missed a parade since she graduated from WSC.

“Wayne is my hometown and I am alumni of Wayne High and Wayne State,” Niemann said. “It’s fun to relive the good ole days and hopefully run into friends again. Maybe it’s just a good way to hold onto my youth.”

“My favorite part of the parade was seeing my cousins in the Wayne High band,” WSC student Bethany Black said. “As a person who did band in high school, it was cool to see bands come from other towns and participate in the parade. This was my first time going to the homecoming parade and it was really fun. I wish I could’ve seen more creative floats but they did a good job overall.”

Black said that she went to the homecoming parade and events to support her cousins, but also because she wanted to have a fun time with her college friends that were going to the parade and those participating.