AUBURN, Ala. (EETV)– When parade onlookers watch the floats pass by, most of them aren’t aware that they’re looking at months of hard work and preparation. Auburn University’s Greek Life organizations began their initial plans for their Homecoming floats during the summer of 2024.
Student leaders began by brainstorming ideas for the floats months ago, but the real hard work began this past week.
After gathering trailers, plywood and all supplies, sorority and fraternity organizations started building.
Jordan Caskey, Alpha Gamma Delta’s homecoming chair, explains that there is a lot more that goes on behind the scenes with building floats than people would expect.
“There’s a lot of graphic design as far as getting the design ready and projecting that. A lot of planning as far as how much supplies we need, ordering that and getting it here on time, budget, stuff like that,” said Caskey.
Pomping is the main way these floats come to life. Students individually roll thousands of pieces of tissue paper, streamers, and napkins into balls and stick them with glue onto plywood to create murals.
“So you take the tissue paper, you wad it up into little balls, and we are gluing it on right now,” Delta Zeta’s homecoming chair, Madeline Baltz explains.
Spending hours pomping and building these floats has been a great way to bring the Auburn family closer. The relationships that Alpha Xi Delta’s homecoming chair Brooke Tilghman has created have been her favorite part of this whole process.
“It’s been fun to see all the people come together and see our fraternity and sorority come together and make new friends and spend a lot of time together. It’s definitely bonding time for sure,” said Tilghman.
Every organization takes a different route with their float. Some will focus on football and make their floats look like Jordan-Hare Stadium, while others will create a version of Samford Lawn, highlighting the most important features of Auburn’s campus and its traditions.
And after months of prep, they’re all counting down the minutes until it’s time to show off their work.
Taylor Largen, Alpha Omicron Pi’s homecoming chair, says, “We put in so much work, and to just see it all come together and walk around, I don’t know. I was literally crying, and I had the biggest smile on my face. And everybody had so much fun.”
Students were able to see all their hard work pay off as their floats were paraded down South College Street on Friday.
