Alumni return to Mizzou’s campus for homecoming festivities
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Festivities return to the University of Missouri this week after homecoming was canceled last year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Alumni and current students are flocking to campus for the celebrations, which stretch through several days. From the window paintings decorating Downtown Columbia shops to Friday night's pep rally, there's no shortage of school spirit and hoopla ahead of Saturday's homecoming game against the University of North Texas.
Christopher Dade, MU class of 2018, was waiting for his friends at the Reynolds Alumni Center when he spoke with ABC 17 crews. Dade said he and his friends had reconnected every year at homecoming--except last year.
"Every year, we all try to make an effort as best as possible uh to come back from where ever we are across the country back here to Columbia," Dade said.
Although Dade said he would have liked to see his friends last year, they all realized traveling from their perspective corners of the country would not be feasible at the height of a pandemic.
"As the pandemic started to develop, a lot of us, you know, sort of took the long view and realized, you know pretty early on, that homecoming was not going to be able to be possible," Dade said. "What we were all looking forward to is this homecoming."
Todd McCubbin, executive director of the Mizzou Alumni Association, told ABC 17 last year's events were scaled back. Large events were canceled or went virtual.
"We didn’t really have any big events last year," McCubbin said. "So, no campus stack, no pep rally, no blood drive. Really, anything that involved you know more than 10 people couldn’t happen."
This year, alumni can enjoy all the traditions they typically look forward to the pep rally, the parade, Greek street decorations and the big game.
"It's really nice to come back especially after last year, not being able to come back to Columbia," Dade said. "All my friends and I haven’t seen each other often for over a year and a half now."
