Homecoming Parade

We went to the University of Iowa Homecoming Parade last night for the first time in I don’t know how many years. For my first three years in Iowa City I lived on the corner of Iowa Avenue and Dubuque, and all three years watched the parade from a second floor fire escape (perfect vantage point). For several years after my wife and I married we’d take our kids down to the parade for them to collect bags of candy and beads around their necks (until they entered high school and had better things to do on Friday night). That was 20 years ago. Back then, the parade was fairly simple – a couple of police cars and fire engines at the start, the local high school bands, various politicians (especially during election years), the UI Alumni Band (a crowd favorite), some fraternities and sororities, an assortment of local cultural and social groups (the Shriners were always a hit), and the Hawkeye Marching Band taking up a triumphant rear. The marching band still is a presence at the end of the parade, the alumni band is entertaining (gray hair and paunches), and there are still the police cars and fire trucks, and a few politicians (though not many). But the bulk (at least half, if not more) of the parade consists now of local businesses, passing in trucks and vans, logos on the sides, t-shirts on the employees trotting along – essentially using the parade as little more than free advertising. There was only one high school band. There were no fraternities or sororities. There were no Shriners. The homecoming parade is becoming – has become – another of the all too many venues for crass commercialism (that might be redundant). It’s been a trend I’ve railed against for years. But I fear it’s a losing, if not lost, battle. There’s not a jot of our lives anymore that’s not stained by the blight of marketing. At least there’s still the marching band to bring up the rear of the parade, loudly playing the fight song, free of advertising logos and jingles. At least this year.