Bigger, Better Homecoming Helps Bearcats Greet Big East

Homecoming may be about traditions, but there will be plenty of focus on what’s new when the University of Cincinnati celebrates Homecoming 2005 on Saturday, Oct. 15.

The centerpiece for the day, UC’s football contest against Connecticut, will be the first game in Nippert Stadium for the Bearcats in Big East competition. The official Homecoming theme is "Go East, Young Bearcat!"

Surrounding the game will be a full day of activities, done on a scale not recently seen on campus. For instance, the traditional Homecoming Parade will be much larger than in recent years, with a 50 percent increase over 2004 in the number of student organizations assembling parade floats, as well as the number of high school marching bands that will join the UC Bearcat Band in the event.

"There are more people on campus for Homecoming than at any other time, and this year’s lineup offers all the pageantry and celebration that the community, the university, its alumni and students deserve," said Homecoming coordinator Sarah Ammann of the UC Alumni Association.

"Family" will be a key undercurrent. Not only does Homecoming speak to the bonds that exist between a university and its alumni, but it is also Parents Weekend at UC, so many students will be hosting their immediate family members.

A large number of Greek organizations and other student and alumni groups will begin Homecoming celebrations with their own events on Friday, Oct. 14.

On Saturday, major Homecoming events begin at 10 a.m., with the opening of a Hospitality Tent on McMicken Lawn just off Clifton Avenue.

The Homecoming Parade begins at noon, with the parade route running from the corner of Calhoun Street and Clifton Avenue, down Clifton past the front entrance of UC’s Uptown West campus, then turning right onto Martin Luther King Boulevard. This year's grand marshals to be honored in the parade will be three UC students who are also veterans of the Iraq War: Army ROTC Cadets Nick Browning, Brandon Curry and Tara Pope.

Immediately following the parade, pre-game festivities get into full swing. At 1 p.m., the annual Homecoming Carnival, an event especially geared toward families with children, will take place in the Tangeman University Center, while the UC Alumni Association will host its "Bearcat Blitz" activities just down MainStreet at the Myers Alumni Center.

"One of the exciting aspects of this year’s Homecoming is the chance to see how much, and how quickly, campus and the areas immediately around it have changed," Ammann said. "Alumni who have been gone only a few years tell us they can’t believe the transformation."

At 4 p.m., kickoff arrives for the UC-UConn football game. Special Homecoming festivities, including the coronation of the Homecoming King and Queen, take place at halftime. As a special promotion, it will be Big East Hat Day, with the first 5,000 fans into the game receiving free Big East caps.

For more information on any of these activities, contact the UC Alumni Association at 513-556-4344, or visit www.homecoming.uc.edu.