Loyal crowd turns out for parade

Determining which sorority or fraternity chanted the loudest or packed the most students in the bed of their pickups might have been hard, but determining the loyalty of the spectators was easy.

Southeast Missouri State University's Homecoming parade ran from Capaha Park to Main Street on Saturday.

The parade's theme, "Let's Get the Show on the Road," was expressed in floats based on films and TV shows, including "The Sopranos," "E.T.," "Star Wars," "Batman," "Titanic" and "Pirates of the Caribbean."

What was different this year was the presence of the SEMO Veteran Corps, a group of Southeast Missouri State University alumni who served in Vietnam.

"I loved the military part of it. It was really impressive," said Hope Peterman of Cape Girardeau, who watched the parade with husband Neal and daughter Amanda.

The Petermans' three children have studied as undergraduates at Southeast Missouri State University, partially out of loyalty to their father, who was a math professor there for 38 years. Hope Peterman, a Central High School graduate, said it felt good to be here all her life. Friends she's known for years live here, and moving is something she'd never think of doing.

Besides, she said, she might miss the parade.

Area residents Margie Huber and Ellie Hampton discussed all the types of weather they'd encountered in the years they attended the parade. The two couldn't remember how many years they'd attended, but for Huber, who had five children graduating from the university, attending the parade was a longtime tradition.

Mary Mason, a 1996 Southeast Missouri State University graduate who is now a high school librarian at Caruthersville, Mo., was there with her family cheering on the bands from little towns. Attending the parade has been a family tradition since 1992, she said.

Alex Adams, a Notre Dame Regional High School graduate who now works at Horizons Screen Printing, plans to attend Southeast at the River Campus for theater when it opens. He said he tries to go the Homecoming parade every year, but this year he had an addition motiviation -- to see the shirts he'd made.

Royce Kessel of Cape Girardeau comes out partly as an advocate for education and because she loves marching bands.

"All my kids play music -- piano, drums, guitar," she said.

Kessel received her bachelor's and master's degrees in psychological counseling at Southeast and said she hardly ever misses a parade.

"We come out even when it rains," she said. "It's better than the Christmas parade. And warmer."

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133