Floats from various organizations and clubs of Colorado Mesa University (CMU) flooded Main Street to celebrate Homecoming Week.
On Saturday, Oct. 26, CMU showed their pride in the downtown parade, where the Maverick Stampede, Outdoor Program and more provided sounds, sights and everything in between.
“We have a glorious rugby field with two posts [for our float], and during the parade we will be putting together a scrum, which is when two teams contest for the ball after a minor infraction. If the ball is knocked-on, which means it basically hits you and goes forward, or if there’s a forward pass, you’d do a scrum. We’re on our road to the playoffs, so that’s what we’re picturing here,” Men’s Rugby head coach Diane Maston said.
Forensics Club had a float that featured members dressing up in Tyvek suits, a protective nonwoven fiber white suit. “Today we’re trying to represent the Forensics Club itself, and everything we learn about,” Vice President of the Forensics Club Logan Mason said. “[Homecoming has] been great. It’s really brought our club closer together.”
Associated Student Government wore bright green road work vests, while the Alpine Ski Team brought their speedsuits, poles and bags. The skis were a little too heavy to haul around. “We’re really just trying to bring in everything that makes our sport what it is, and what makes it different from everything else,” co-captain of the Alpine Ski team Michaela Rollins said. “Homecoming so far? Dude yeah, let’s do this!”
The hockey team, coached by Dr. Tim Winegard, showed up ready and excited despite a major setback to their float. “We were supposed to have the Zamboni actually, and get it all decked out, we’ve had it every year in the past… and it broke last night,” Winegard said. “We didn’t have time to get everything together, but the boys are in their jerseys, they’re rollerblading, we have candy to hand out.”
Sustainability Council used a Dash program bus for their float. “We’re collaborating with the city of Grand Junction, specifically the Dash program. We’re giving students an option of how to get around, and promoting the bus because it runs on compressed natural gas,” President of Sustainability Council Jill Klinger said.
Alicia Ebding of the Ho’olokahi Polynesian Alliance commented on the challenge of fitting a road trip theme into a part of the world it’s difficult to travel far on car in. “Since Hawaii’s so small and you can’t really [take a] road trip, we took it back culturally to how they would voyage around the islands and navigate [with the stars],” Ebding said. Their float had a canoe and sail on top of a car.
The Outdoor Program showed that a road trip isn’t confined by any one transportation method. “Our float, we themed it as, ‘you don’t need pavement to go on a road trip.’ We’re talking about how you can take road trips on rivers, trails, we’ve got some mountaineers and skiers,” Assistant Coordinator of the Outdoor Program Mackenzie Holbrook said.
BJ Long, President of Esports Club, dressed up as a character from the popular video game Fortnite. “Our float is a bunch of video game nerds sitting together. We have them playing some video games, wanting to show off the competitive side of esports,” Long said.
With the Mavettes dance squad performing routines, the Maverick Stampede proudly marching and spectators gathering to watch and take pictures, Main Street was shown what it truly means to be a Maverick, and got a taste of what it means that all roads lead to Colorado Mesa University.
To see the Downtown Parade in photos, see the gallery below, with photos by Elias Born.
