With the Coronado High School
Homecoming Parade's Wizard of Oz theme Sept. 16, home plate had a
double meaning for the Coronado girls softball team. Parade
participants travelled down West Colorado Avenue from 29th Street to
Bancroft Park. This photo was taken in the 2500 block.
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No place like Old Colorado City for annual Coronado Homecoming Parade
Along with a display of technology,
the Coronado High/District 11 Robotics float offered a Wizard of Oz
element. The parade theme was taken from the famous fiction novel
by L. Frank Baum and movie starring Judy Garland.
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With hundreds of supporters lining the avenue - the bulk of them
shoulder to shoulder in the 2400 block - Coronado High's 37th annual
Homecoming Parade sprinkled school spirit on Old Colorado City
Sept. 16.
The roughly half-hour event between 29th Street and Bancroft Park
featured Coronado's sports teams and clubs as well as its feeder
schools. Among the 30-some entries were hand-decorated floats and
marching bands from Coronado, as well as Holmes and West middle
schools.
A pep rally in Bancroft Park - the first use of the refurbished bandshell
since last January's fire - climaxed the event.
This year's theme was the Wizard of Oz. Here were a few indications of
it:
Robotics float - “The Wizard of Cogs,” on a large cardboard panel,
painted to resemble the Emerald City.
Softball float - Marchers in front holding up a giant home plate with the
message, “There's no place like home.”
Girls soccer float - marchers in front with appropriately illustrated signs
that read, “Have a heart - come to our game” and “Follow the yellow
brick road straight to our games.” And on the float were hand-done
cardboard cutouts of Dorothy, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion and
Scarecrow.
Adding to the festive air was Principal Darin Smith, attired as the
Wizard, along with athletic director Jimmy Porter (the Tin Woodman),
dean of
attendance Janice Ruybal (the Lion) and assistant principals David
Dubois (the Scarecrow) and Addie Arnell (Dorothy).
Several wind instrumentalists in the
Coronado High School Band play as they march down Colorado
Avenue during the school's annual Homecoming Parade Sept. 16.
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Another Scarecrow sighting was Manual Ramsey, principal of Bristol
Elementary, who was marching with students, staff and parents from
his school. Also seen was an as-yet-unidentified, green-faced Wicked
Witch of the West.
The parade followed Coronado's Homecoming football game the night
before (Coronado won) and preceded its Homecoming dance that
night. As is traditional, activities meant to boost school spirit had gone
on the week before. Two of these in the Wizard of Oz theme were: “If I
Only Had a Brain Mathlete vs. Athlete Tuesday” and “We're Not in
Colorado Anymore Thursday.”
Credited with the lead role in organizing this year's parade was Dillon
Marlow, the Coronado student president for 2017-18. “Dillon did a
great job,” said Allison Watson, one of two Coronado teachers who
serve as advisers to the elected student officers.
Homecoming's Westside Recipient this year was Terry Martinez. It's
the school's way of annually honoring someone who has contributed
to Coronado and/or the Westside, and that includes riding in a car in
the parade. Now retired, Martinez was the first West Elementary
principal (2009 to 2013) and before that Washington Elementary's
principal (2005 to 2009).
For the second year, as a parade fundraiser, breakfast burritos and
coffee were served in the Bancroft Park pavilion by Coronado home
economics teacher Jordan Sveen and her students in the Family,
Career, and Community Leaders of America program.
As the parade ended, a cap to the Coronado event could be found at
the Old Colorado City Library across the street from the park. Library
staffers and volunteers were handing out free ice cream, in what has
become an annual event recognizing early-1900s library benefactor
Andrew Carnegie.
The parade was added to Coronado's Homecoming activities by its
student government in 1981. Initially, it was a low-cost endeavor, but
with increasing city security requirements for closing streets, the total
expense has neared $8,000 and Coronado leaders last year considered
moving the event out of Old Colorado City. This year, Principal Smith
said the school had raised $4,000 from two school dances in 2016-17,
and District 11 covered the balance of the cost.
Westside Pioneer article
(Posted 9/17/17;
Schools:Coronado High School)
Dual Wizard of Oz themes are
represented in signs held by students marching in front of the
Coronado girls soccer team float (just behind with the green balloons)
in the 2500 block of West Colorado Avenue. Other entries in the
parade, which was moving east toward Bancroft Park, can be seen
coming up in the background.
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The enthusiastic Coronado girls
soccer team float (behind the marchers shown in the photo above)
included cardboard cutouts of Wizard of Oz characters.
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LEFT: The Old Colorado City
Library's Carnegie Day ice-cream giveaway was across Pikes Peak
Avenue from the Coronado Parade pep rally in Bancroft Park.
RIGHT: The Coronado girls basketball float included Emerald City
artwork.
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A portion of the West Middle
School Band marches in the 2600 block. At far right is band instructor
David Foster.
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A young parade-goer (left) gains the
attention of a few players on the Coronado High football team. The
team had played the night before, winning their Homecoming game.
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LEFT: Holmes Middle School
students temporarily leave the parade (background right) to give away
candy in the 2700 block of West Colorado Avenue. RIGHT: Parade
participants from Girl Scout Troop 920 wave to the crowd.
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Coronado boys soccer and hockey
players show off their skills during the Homecoming Parade...
although the 6-foot-diameter soccer ball may prove a challenge.
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The Coronado band joins other
students and supporters in a dance during the pep rally at the end of
the parade in front of the bandshell in Bancroft Park. An amplification
system for speakers, led by retired cross-country coach Doug
Hugill, was set up on the stage (from which this photo was taken). The
event was the first to use the bandshell since Colorado Springs Parks
finished renovations earlier in September. Side note: Can you spot the Wicked
Witch of the West in the crowd?
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