By Caleb Wheeler | Staff Writer
In Baylor Homecoming history, groups like the Golden Wave Band have had a long-established presence, but this year’s parade will also include new organizations like the Catholic Student Association.
The parade has brought together the spirit of Baylor and the surrounding community from the start, according to the Baylor website.
“Throughout the years, the Parade has featured horse-drawn carriages and wagons, bands, student and civic organizations, dignitaries and more.”
The Golden Wave Band is one of the groups in front of the parade.
“[The band is] one of the first groups in the parade, so it’s really cool to be the front of the university,” Tomball senior Blaise Alfredson said. “As one of the drum majors, we march in the front of the band, so being able to be a part of that is really cool.”
Alfredson has been a drum major for two years. He said he enjoys being able to march in the parade and see families coming from all over to watch. Although the pressure of playing for crowds seems like it would be stressful, Alfredson said the band handles it with grace.
“We’re fairly comfortable with it, because at least for the three drum majors, we do a parade every week sort of for the [football] games,” Alfredson said. “We’re pretty comfortable because we’ve been doing it throughout the season.”
Alfredson said the distance of the parade does not bother the band, which actually marches straight from the parade to rehearsal to prepare for the football game.
The parade route spans from Austin Avenue and S. Twelfth Street to campus.
He said the experience is also fun because of the size of the band.
“We’re kind of a float in and of ourselves because we’re just so big,” Alfredson said. “We’ve got like 290 [students] in the band, and so because we’re so big, we don’t need a float. We have our uniforms. We have our big instruments. And so we’re extremely recognizable as we are.”
The Golden Wave Band has become a staple of the Baylor Homecoming Parade, but new organizations can join as well. This year, the Catholic Student Association is participating for the first time in seven years.
“[Our hope is] definitely to get more members, spread the Catholic presence on campus and even offer a visual evangelical tool to show a bit of Catholic belief about Mary fondly,” Waco junior and Catholic Student Association outreach officer James Foley said.
Foley said members hope this will help bring attention of the Catholic view of Mary’s importance in a fun and engaging way.
“So far, even just the building has been really fun, coming together to work on a lot of fun activities,” Foley said. “We’ll also be coming directly from [the parade] back [to St. Peter’s Catholic Church], where St. Peter’s is hosting their own sort of tailgate.”
Foley said he is happy with what the float has become throughout the building process.
“I’ve organized most of it, … but then we’ve had a lot of community members and non-officer members helping out and taking a big load,” Foley said. “I started a float-building committee that was me and three other officer members, so it’s been nice, giving us an opportunity to sort of step up as a leadership role in our community.”
The organization’s float expects to have between six and eight people during the parade.
Despite some last-minute issues, Foley said he is hoping their presence will establish the organization and its beliefs in the community.
“We’re very grateful to Baylor for letting us host a visually Catholic float,” Foley said.
