Mrs. Baird’s factory is a scene unlike any year before – more nails are being hammered, extra wood is cut and excess energy is radiating from those hard at work.
Fifteen Homecoming floats are being prepared for their Saturday premier – the most SMU has ever seen.
With so many floats being built, Mrs. Baird’s factory, located on Mockingbird Lane across from campus, has become “squished,” according to Cathleen Good, the Homecoming chair of Student Foundation.
“They’re all over the place this year, so it’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out,” Good said.
Float building began Oct. 30, with the construction of a wooden foundation. By Monday night, some organizations showed more progress than others.
“Everybody else needs to catch up,” said senior accounting major Kyle Bennett, who estimated that the float he is working on will be completed by Wednesday night.
While Bennett’s team, Phi Delta Theta and Kappa Alpha Theta, had plenty of workers on the float scene, College Hispanic American Students had difficulty recruiting help that same night.
Only two male members were building the wooden float foundation, according to Leticia Tudon.
“As a member of CHAS, we’re very appreciative that we [have] someone to step up and do the job,” Tudon said.
Despite setbacks early on, each organization has stepped up their game and moved forward with construction. All teams have begun the “pomping” stage, which consists of placing tissue paper inside the holes of a chicken wire fence.
“I think the progress so far of all of the teams has been very good and that everyone’s off to a great start,” Marc Bullock, Sigma Phi Epsilon’s Homecoming candidate said.
The most difficult part about the entire process can be picking a theme, according to Good. When considering themes, Student Foundations steers clear of ideas used within the last 10 years. Also, it has to be an idea with multiple subcategories, “so that each organization can take that theme and run with it.”
With 15 different floats, ideas for board games run the gambit.
Since the Delta Delta Delta Homecoming candidate, Loren Sharp, is a pre-med major, Delta Delta Delta and Sigma Phi Epsilon thought the board game Operation would be an appropriate theme, according to Bullock.
Eta Iota Sigma and the men’s tennis team decided on Clue as their theme because “it was our favorite board game when we were kids,” sophomore Ashley Withers said. “There are lots of characters for everyone to get dressed up as and really get into it.”
Union ’11 is building “The Game of Life: SMU-style” on their float. They will create SMU icons, such as Dallas Hall, the Dallas Hall fountain and the Chapel on top of a flat surface, so that the candidates can walk around, according to freshman pre-med major Allyson Berklacy.
“Organizations spend a lot of time building, so it’s a great opportunity to bring [everyone] together,” Good said.
The parade will tour Hillcrest Avenue and Bishop Boulevard on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 11 a.m.
