Horsemen, Trotters, show school spirit

Showing team spirit took a lot of work and ingenuity, a good amount of paint, and loads of orange and black balloons for the building of the six floats of the Plains School Homecoming Week Parade.

The students came up with the overall theme of "We Bleed Orange and Black," though some classes added their own sub theme to their floats. Students from seventh grade to seniors took some three hours to put together their floats for the annual parade Friday morning in the school's parking lots. For the first time, the elementary school students got into the act to display their school spirit by decorating four school buses for the parade. "We try to involve the younger grades so they have a sense of excitement and belonging," said Ken Nelson, the high school history teacher, who is also the student council advisor and chief coordinator for the school's homecoming week festivities.

"Covid has made us a little isolated. If there was ever a time to promote school spirit, this is it," said Kevin Meredith, the elementary school principal for the last two years. It was Meredith that brought back the school homecoming parade in his first year as high school principal in 2015. Larry McDonald, the former principal, had stopped it because he said too many kids were taking off after the parade.

The seniors and juniors added their own themes to the main theme with "Tailgate Party" for the seniors and "Boxing the Eagles" for the juniors. The seniors had a barbecue grill on the trailer with Mason Elliott cooking burgers and hot dogs during the parade and handing them out upon their return to the school. Senior Ocean Hyde wore a Horseman helmet and was pulled in a cart behind the trailer, tossing candy to people lining the parade route. Donned in a Horseman costume, junior Brenden Vanderwall boxed classmate David McGonagle, in an Eagle outfit, on their float during the parade.

Each float included the traditional school colors of orange and black balloons as well as an assortment of frills on the floats. Festivities included dress-up days and games throughout the week. Kindergarten through second grade students decorated sidewalks outside the school. Several students painted themselves black and orange. Senior Alex Horodyski painted his hair and beard in school colors. Classmates Aaron Pfister and Gunnar Gannarelli donned a tutu and black and orange tights for the festivities.

For the eighth grade float, Cooper Meredith, the principal's son, served as a caged Valley Christian Eagle, the team the Horsemen faced Friday evening. "I've been trying to cage him for 13 years," joked Meredith, who helped decorate the elementary school buses.

The parade traveled down Railroad Street and looped around McGowan and Clayton Streets back to the school, where the students popping balloons made it sound like a fireworks celebration. Dozens of people lined the streets to show their support. Accompanying the student floats were fire trucks and vehicles from Plains Paradise Rural Fire District, Town of Plains Fire Department, Plains Community Ambulance, and Plains Police Department. The parade was over in less than 15 minutes.