Southeast Homecoming brings crowds to downtown Cape, Copper Dome dinner

Thousands of locals joined Southeast Missouri State University students and alumni in celebrating Homecoming at the university this weekend with events throughout downtown Cape Girardeau.

Game-day festivities began early Saturday with an All Alumni Breakfast at 7 a.m. at Kem Statuary Hall in the Wehking Alumni Center, followed by the homecoming parade at 9:30 a.m.

The parade included floats and displays by on-campus organizations of all varieties and followed its traditional route from Capaha Park east on Broadway to Main Street, then south on Main Street to Independence Street.

For some watching the parade, such as Byron Jones of Nevada, the event marked their first visit to Cape Girardeau. For others, the day was the culmination of week’s worth of work.

Surrounded by his fraternity brothers, Zach Johnson watched the parade from the patio of Last Call at the intersection of Sprigg Street and Broadway. Johnson said Homecoming is not only great for local businesses, but it’s also his favorite time of the year.

Veterans hold up an American flag down Broadway during the Southeast Missouri State University homecoming parade Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017 in Cape Girardeau.Andrew J. Whitaker

“I love Homecoming. I think it’s the best day [of the year],” Johnson said. “I honestly like the direction (Southeast president Carlos Vargas-Aburto) is taking SEMO; I think it’s awesome.”

Many of year’s largest parade floats, put together by fraternities and sororities, were decorated in tune with this year’s theme of “Dreams Come True at Southeast,” with colorful paper “pomp” boards depicting many iconic scenes from Disney films.

Many organizations incorporated the images of characters into their float designs, such as Hercules on the side of Sigma Chi and Sigma Sigma Sigma’s float or Aladdin riding atop Alpha Xi Delta and Alpha Phi’s float.

An “Alice in Wonderland”-themed float designed by members of Alpha Delta Pi and Pi Kappa Alpha had riders dressed as the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, in addition to the float’s moving parts and small-scale model of Academic Hall.

Following the parade, tailgating took place in parking lots surrounding Houck Field, where Southeast football players and cheerleaders made an appearance on their way to the stadium. Homecoming celebrations continued until the game’s kick-off at 1 p.m.

Friday night featured an event held by the SEMO Veterans Corps celebrating its 50th anniversary at Cape Girardeau VFW Post 3838, in addition to the Copper Dome Dinner at the Show Me Center.

At the Copper Dome Dinner, the Alumni Association’s 2017 Alumni Merit Awards were presented to Glenn Campbell, Maude Harris, Suzan Noel Knese, Shelton “Butch” Smith, Steve Taylor and Mark Wildhaber.

Also during the dinner, Southeast Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation professor Jeremy Barnes was presented with this year’s Faculty Merit Award.

bmatthews@semissourian.com

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