On September 30th, the Homecoming Parade arrived on Village Parkway in stunning fashion to signal the approach of the Homecoming Dance. Weeks of building and preparation from all four classes have amounted to the moment where the public would finally be able to see all their floats, but before their wheels could hit the asphalt, schools from all over the Dublin Unified School District presented their own exhibitions. 

A police motorcycle led the first two convertibles in the motorcade; one red and one gray. Not far behind, rows of Dublin High Cheerleaders, followed by the Irish Guard Marching Band and Color Guard led the line of different schools. In classic Irish Guard fashion, the Color Guard led the red and blue marching band with mock rifles, shields and flags following a similar color palette.

Frederiksen Elementary presented a banner displaying their “Panther Pride”, while Wells Middle School brought an entourage of students surrounding a Roadrunner mascot. 

One former Fallon Middle School student noted that it appeared more like a “large blue duck than a roadrunner”. Nonetheless, Wells Middle School displayed an impressive band and color guard, sporting their blue and gold colors in both their attire and flags. 

Cottonwood Creek’s coyote mascot brought on a wave of blue as their band was followed by Dublin Elementary School’s blue banner. Amador Elementary brought an owl with big beady eyes; Fallon Middle School would complete the list of attending DUSD schools with their leadership team and band. 

The motorcade continued, notably with a blue McClaren and Grady the Gael at the forefront.

Class floats approached soon after the schools passed. The Freshmen presented a colorful Candyland theme. Their float included assorted balloons, candy canes, gumdrops, a giant ice cream cone and a gingerbread house. In a stroke of amazing creativity, the Freshmen also included a smaller detail in the form of a street sign indicating the directions to fictional locations such as “Licorice Lagoon”, “Peppermint Forest” and “Chocolate Country” to name a few. 

The Sophomores rolled an entire city over to the parade. They borrowed elements from not just one city, but multiple. Paired with skyscrapers, the Sophomores integrated well known modes of transportation found in New York, including a New York cab and the Staten Island Ferry. On the other side, the Sophomores replicated the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and a cable car, all from the city of San Francisco. 

The Juniors constructed a Wild West themed float, including a jailhouse, schoolhouse and a saloon with the iconic swinging doors, complete with a slightly off-putting dummy dressed as a cowboy. With the noise produced by the horde of Juniors behind the float, it may have been difficult to notice the sound of actual livestock. 

The cow and two horses brought by the Juniors were a source of content for a great amount of audience members, including Anikait Srivastav, a Junior who when asked for his favorite part of the parade, responded “I liked the horses and the cow at the end of the Juniors part”. 

Another eye-catching vehicle in the parade was that of the blue old-school Ford Mustang that drove among a few other vehicles from the Senior class. 

The final float was for the Seniors, which was museum themed. The mock museum contained Dublin High Senior memorabilia and photos, including one of Grady the Gael. A vault mounted to the wall of the museum also held the Gael Cup. The precious artifact was protected by a decorative laser security system, but it also appears that the Seniors implemented a heist scene into this section of the float. A helicopter is able to be seen crashed onto the roof of the vault, and a thief hangs from his legs from the ceiling while trying to avoid the lasers and grasp at the Gael Cup. Within the crowd of Seniors, a pterodactyl could also be spotted walking amongst them, to contribute to the museum theme. 

The parade’s march all the way across Village Parkway to the school parking lot marked its end as the onlookers and participants cleared out.