Homecoming Week 2018 Highlighted by Sept. 29 Parade
Weeklong event schedule begins Sept. 24, with Sept. 29 Sesquicentennial Parade beginning at 10 a.m.
Mankato, Minn. – Minnesota State University, Mankato’s annual “Homecoming Week” begins Monday, Sept. 24, and this year’s featured event is the University’s Sesquicentennial Homecoming Parade at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 29 in downtown Mankato.
The media is welcome to cover the parade and events held throughout the week.
The entire Mankato-area community is invited to the parade, which will feature more than 100 floats and be held in downtown Mankato for the first time since 1970. The chair of the Sesquicentennial Parade Committee is Curt Fisher, and Glen and Becky Taylor are the parade’s grand marshals.
The parade will include an airplane flyover by Minnesota State Mankato aviation students in planes branded with school colors (purple and gold). Professional sports teams with parade entries include the Minnesota Vikings with the Vikings’ Skol Line and Minnesota Timberwolves with team mascot “Crunch.” Various bands will march in the parade, including the University’s own Maverick Machine, the Schell’s Hobo Band and the Mankato Garage Band.
The parade was moved downtown this year in honor of the University’s 150-year anniversary, and the 1-mile parade route is approximately double the distance of the campus parade route used in recent years.
Expected to last for an estimated 1-1/2 to 2 hours, the parade will begin on South Front Street at the corner of West Liberty Street. It will proceed through downtown Mankato on South 2nd Street and then through Old Town on North Riverfront Drive for its final six blocks. A parade map is available online.
From 7:30-10 a.m. Sept. 29, prior to the parade, Minnesota State Mankato President Richard Davenport will host his annual free community pancake breakfast, held downtown this year at Mankato’s Civic Center Plaza.
The University’s Student Events Team is planning a weeklong schedule of Homecoming week events beginning Monday, Sept. 24.
Monday’s events include a “Mavericks on the Mall” event on the Centennial Student Union Mall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. that will include yard games and a dunk tank. Monday evening events include a bonfire (25 feet high) and fireworks starting at 8 p.m. behind Blakeslee Stadium on the Maverick Midway.
Public parking for Monday evening events will be available in Lot 20, located on the corner of Stadium Road and Warren Street. No outside food or beverage is permitted, and Minnesota State Mankato is an alcohol-free, drug-free and tobacco-free campus.
Tuesday is “Maverick Pride Day.” It will be in the Centennial Mall and Lincoln Lounge with music and free food and beverages from local vendors from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wednesday’s events include a food-eating contest in the Centennial Student Union Hearth Lounge at noon. Contestants will consume chicken nuggets with a special sauce and corn on the cob.
Thursday, Sept. 27 events include a lip sync and royalty coronation at 7 p.m. in Bresnan Arena.
The annual Homecoming concert is Friday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m., with Fetty Wap this year’s featured performer. Student tickets are sold out, but public general admission tickets are available for purchase online.
In addition to the president’s pancake breakfast and the Sesquicentennial parade, Saturday, Sept. 29 events include the Maverick football game against St. Cloud State that will begin at 2 p.m. at Blakeslee Stadium. Dates and times of other athletic events throughout the weekend are available online at msumavericks.com.
For more information on Homecoming events throughout the week, contact Ella May, Student Events Team partnerships and homecoming promotions chair, by email at ella.may@mnsu.edu or by phone at 507-380-6076.
Minnesota State Mankato’s Homecoming has been in existence since 1928. Homecoming week offers students and alumni a way to display their pride and school spirit. Homecoming also allows the greater Mankato community a chance to learn about the university and take part in the celebrations.
Minnesota State Mankato, a comprehensive university with approximately 15,000 students, is part of the Minnesota State system, which includes 30 colleges and seven universities.
