THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2004
HOMECOMING
2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 13A
Structures significant to week
BY JESSIE FETTERLING
correspondent@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
Crisp fall air has swept into campus, the leaves are changing
it's time for homecoming again.
Students are getting out their chicken wire and flatbed trucks to build their "Hawktoberfest; Home Is Where the Hawk Is" homecoming floats, following in the footsteps of past jayhawks.
The idea of having a homecoming theme started in 1956, but parades didn't start until 1979.
Before the annual homecoming parade began, sororities, fraternities and residence halls built huge, statue-like structures out of tissue paper and chicken wire on their front lawns. On Homecoming Day, passersby would drive by the statues, causing traffic jams.
In 1979 the structures were made into floats, bringing the "parade to the people." The homecoming committee thought it would reduce traffic and increase participation among those who didn't have a front lawn.
These structures were evaluated and judges went by each house rating creativity, adherence to theme and appropriateness.
The first parade's theme was "Kansas: The Real Wild West." It started in the Joseph R. Pearson Hall parking lot, went down Jayhawk Boulevard to Mississippi Street and ended in the parking lot behind the Kansas Union. The parade was on Friday instead of Saturday, and started at 3 p.m. Classes were dismissed at 2:20 that afternoon so everyone could attend to celebrate.
Michelle Capra, Kansas City, Mo., junior, and Delta Delta Delta homecoming chair, said building a float was a good chance to bond with friends.
"I got involved because I have a lot of friends in the frat house that we're doing it with this year," she said. "It's a great way to get to spend time with them."
Edited by Amanda Kim Stairrett
KU women construct a float using chicken wire for homecoming in 1964. Students today still use chicken wire for floats
contributed photo
Robert Herken, from the Triangle fraternity, fixes some hoses and cords on last year's float. Triangle used CO2 for added effects.
How to build a kick-ass float — it ain't easy
By Eva Reed
correspondent@kansan.com
KANSAN CORRESPONDENT
Every year at homecoming, Jayhawks old and new take to the streets to watch football, drink beer and look at floats. From the first homecoming to now, the floats take a life of their own. But not everyone knows how much hard work and effort it takes to build a kick-ass float. Fear no more, fellow Jayhawks, as we present you with five steps to build a kick-ass float.
1. Find the perfect fraternity or sorority to work with. Ryan Talley, Overland Park senior and vice president of alumni relations for Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, said he called this year's partner sorority, Chi Omega, and made his case as to why they should partner Talley told the sorority that Phi Kappa Tau was reliable, it won decorated vehicle in 2002 and took second place in decorated vehicle last year. Talley said after hearing the qualifications, Chi Omega members accepted the offer.
ing your partner in pomp, now comes the hard part: designing the float. There are two basic designs: a moving parts float and nonmoving float.
"A float is up to a tractor trailer in length and can't have anything moving. A moving parts float is more complicated and takes more work," said Andrew Ward, Overland Park junior and member of Phi Tau fraternity.
2. Come up with a kick-ass design. After you're done woo-
Steven Everley, Eudora senior and president of Triangle fraternity, said the homecoming chair and committee meet to discuss ideas.
"We just start going over all the materials we need. Most of what determines what kind of design you have is your budget, and since we do moving parts you want to do something that's elaborate and neat, but also want to do something possible," he said.
3. Buy all the basics. After you get your ideas and budget hammered out, now comes the fun part; buying supplies.
Although a float's glory only lasts for one day, expenses can run high.
"We usually have a budget of a little over $1,000 and we ended up teaming with another sorority and they usually have a few hundred dollars they can throw in," Everley said.
Everley named the basic float must-haves. Chicken wire, which can be found at Home Depot and Wal-Mart, is essential in building the frame. Colorful pomps must be purchased to cover the float. Why pomps and not crepe paper?
"It has to be flame retardant and it has to abide by fire safety standards." Everley said.
Tyler Dall, Overland Park junior and member of Phi Tau fraternity, added in another crucial element to float building.
"You need lots of two by fours," he said.
4. Work, work and ... more hard work! It takes a lot of hard work, people and effort to build a float. The closer it gets to the big day, the later students burn the midnight oil.
"There's people easily up to midnight or one o'clock usually for almost two weeks straight working on it. Usually the last week is crunch time with people staying up to three o'clock working. For the past three years, we've worked all night on the last night to get it done," Everley said.
After the frame is shaped anu built, the pomp is used to add
pizzazz to the design. Another important part of construction is staying consistent with the theme. Last year's theme was "Bringing Back the Classics," and Dall said Phi Tau built two Jayhawks that spun around. One was the current Jayhawk and the other was the 1906 Jayhawk.
"After we get the idea drawn up, it usually changes because things don't work. Last year with the time machine, the original plans didn't work because (the float) was rubbing up on the tire. We had to come up with a new way to change a small thing," Ward said.
But with all good plans, there are some mishaps.
Everley echoed the "whatever can go wrong, will" feeling in Triangle's experiences.
"Something that breaks at the last minute or we don't have the right color of pomps, it always comes down to the last dime in everything." he said.
5. Gloat over your float! Confidence is key. If you don't think your float's the best, the judges won't either.
"If you don't go into the competition with any confidence you're not setting yourself up for
any benefit or gain." Everley said. "You don't want to think 'We're gonna win anyway so it doesn't matter what we do.' But you also don't want to think, 'It doesn't matter, we're just going to enter.'"
With all this time and hard work some thrive on the competition of the event.
“I've heard some of the houses jokingly say they're out to beat Triangle because Triangle wins a lot,” Everley said. “We do have an advantage because our chapter is full of engineers and architects, so when it comes to an object that has moving parts we really know what to do and what to use and what we actually can accomplish. There really aren't any rivalries. It's not like it always 'this chapter versus this chapter,' that stuff doesn't really exist with the homecoming stuff. It more about cooperation and having a good time," he said.
So there you have it, the five steps to building a kick-ass float. For the amateur builder, Ward left this advice for a winning float: "I think a lot of it is creative idea and if you can build what your creative idea is then I think you can win."
— Edited by Amanda Kim Stairrett
---