In addition to displaying Maverick pride during homecoming on the Minnesota State campus, the wider community was invited to “level up” with MSU students and alumni during the annual homecoming parade Saturday.
Leveling up is a reference to a gaming achievement and celebrating all things related to video games, no matter if a homecoming participant had an Atari 2600 game console in the early ’80s, a Nintendo NES game system in the ’90s or consider the Mario brothers honorary siblings of their own.
And perhaps they are a supporter of MSU’s relatively new competitive intercollegiate e-sports program.
MSU Provost David Hood got into the act, donning a Luigi hat while he tossed candy to enthusiastic kids along the parade route. Kids of all ages were enjoying the candy; first year students Lilly Robinson of Lino Lakes and Nicole Freda of Marietta, Georgia enjoyed their first homecoming at MSU. Freda, an aviation student, was a fan of the carnival.
“I liked the bonfire and the fireworks,” said Robinson, a special education major, as she and Freda collected a few Tootsie Roll pops.
Mark Savignano, a professor of education technology, brought his two daughters, Aria and Gabby. This was the first year of attending the parade; they scrambled to find something to increase their candy carrying capacity. “I started out with trash bags, and I thought, naah,” Mark said with a laugh.
The girls carried Easter baskets to store their parade candy.
MSU alumni Jesse and Tiffany Smith brought their daughter Addison, 5, for the first time. “I read about it in the paper. We planned to do it. It sounded like fun.” Addison was bouncing in her readiness for the parade.
Float builders with a variety of campus and local organizations were encouraged to display their creativity and university spirit with decor associated with the video game theme, in preparation for the final day of homecoming festivities.
The Maverick Machine band marched along the route, providing music and spirited chants. The MSU choir provided harmonies for the marching as well.
Even though passing showers dropped some precipitation early in the morning, parade weather welcomed attendees with temperatures in the upper 50s. The weather supported the crowd’s enjoyment of the festivities around the approximately one mile-plus parade route, with the front of the parade beginning near Memorial Library and finishing at Lot 22 to the east of Blakeslee Stadium on Stadium Road.