I think there’s a song for any occasion. I hope when you read the title, you could hear the voice of Harry Richman singing “I Love a Parade.” If not, check it out here.
This Saturday, September 29th, Minnesota State University Mankato will be celebrating their Sesquicentennial Homecoming Parade located in Downtown and Old Town Mankato, starting at 10 am. The last time MSU marched their way through Old Town was back in 1970, a whopping 48 years ago!
“The last time MSU marched their way through Old Town was back in 1970, a whopping 48 years ago!”
By the sound of it, this parade will be exceedingly grand! The lineup includes more than 100 different floats, an airplane flyover by Minnesota State Mankato Aviation students in planes branded in the school’s purple and gold, the Minnesota Vikings with the Vikings’ Skol Line (more purple and gold!), and Minnesota Timberwolves with team mascot “Crunch.” The University’s own Maverick Machine will be marching as well as the Schell’s Hobo Band, and the Mankato Garage Band to just name a few.
This 150-years-of-MSU parade celebration is expected to last about two hours, so be sure to grab a very large bucket to drag all that candy home. Open to the public, the parade will begin on South Front Street at the corner of West Liberty Street. It continues through downtown Mankato on South 2nd Street and then marches onward through Old Town on North Riverfront Drive for another six blocks. Check out this map, it’s quite the route!
“This parade will be exceedingly grand!”
Of course so much more goes on behind the scenes than we will ever know, so a shout out of thanks to the chair of the Sesquicentennial Parade Committee, Curt Fisher, and Grand Marshals, Glen and Becky Taylor. I can only imagine the hustle, follow up, phone calls, meetings, brainstorming, and so on that went into the preparation! Can you hear Harry Richman singing “I Love A Parade” now?
For a little pre-parade pancake heaven, MSU Mankato President Richard Davenport is hosting his annual free community pancake breakfast at Civic Center Plaza. It starts early at 7:30 am and ends at 10 am, just in time for the festivities. Yum! Pretty sure there’s a song about pancakes by Jack Johnson…. Yup, there is, it’s called Banana Pancakes!
