Homecoming is a tradition – graduates come back to celebrate the school and what they accomplished, a dance is held, school spirit is at its highest – and Johnson finally has graduates that can come home, but not just to a dance. 

Today, a new tradition is made – the Homecoming parade will start at 7 p.m. from the old library/Buda Welcome Center to Main Street and end at the amphitheater with a community pep rally. The football teams, cheer, dance, Rosettes, and community members will be involved in the parade. 

“We really want to push community with the parade; instead of having families come just for the parade, they could plan a family night and stop to eat at 5 or 5:30,” Principal’s Admin Claire Kelly said. “It would be great to see the streets filled with black and gold before and during the parade.” 

A parade is not uncommon for Homecoming, and is done at other high schools, but Kelly has thought about ways to change the formula since as early as February, when the parade started to be planned. 

“I know other schools have done the parade, so when Brett and I had those conversations about school spirit and legacies and tradition, especially, the parade was in the conversation,” Kelly said. “We asked ourselves: what else can we do to make Homecoming special and fun?”

Everyone can expect an exciting parade full of school spirit, as well as more parades in the future for more Homecoming dances, as long as there is enough careful planning. 

“It was important to everybody to have a fun, celebratory event leading up to Homecoming, and I think that as we are building our culture and extending our community, we thought that the parade would be fun to do too,” Kelly said. “Last year we tried to do a parade, but it was thought of too late in the game. There are a lot of things you have to work around when asking the city to close down streets.”

The Homecoming parade will be special, but not just because it is the first for Johnson, but because of who is involved. 

“I think it’s going to be special, period,” Kelly said. “We are involving all the people in football, we’ve got cheer with spirit, we’ve got dance performing, and we have band, which is hand-in-hand with football. When all of that comes together, with the support and excitement from the community, that is what makes the parade special.”

Baritone player and head of the logistics team, senior Jeron Cody has been ready to march in the parade for weeks, and is excited for how the parade is going to bring together our school and the community. 

“It is a good atmosphere to have the community come and watch Johnson, just so they go, ‘Okay, we know the football team can do it, and we know they care about the community,-’ because they are having these pep rallies for the community to watch and see, which brings the community into our Homecoming,” Cody said. “If yall want to come watch us play songs and get hyped up, you can.”