Next fall’s Huntington High School Homecoming Day celebration is set for Saturday, October 20. The Blue Devil football team will host rugged Smithtown East at 1:30 p.m.
The football game will be preceded by a parade down Main Street through the heart of Huntington Village and up New York Avenue to the Big H Shopping Center and along Holdsworth Drive into the school parking lot.
The entire school community is invited to participate in the parade, which will be led by the Blue Devil marching band. Hundreds of students, parents and teachers from every grade level participated in last fall’s march through town.
2017 Homecoming Day king and queen, Ryan Smith and Alexandra Lourenso. (Darin Reed photo)
The weeklong celebration will include a student dance in the school gym on Thursday from 6-9 p.m. A Friday afternoon pep rally will feature varsity coaches introducing their players and separate performances by the marching band, Huntington Highsteppers competitive dance team and the Ready Step team. The chamber choir will sing the national anthem. Fall varsity athletic teams are expected to perform short skits lasting a minute or less upon entering Louis D. Giani Gymnasium to thunderous applause.
Each of the four grades at the school will build class floats on Friday night. The junior varsity and varsity football teams will hold a joint team dinner in the school cafeteria that same evening.
Halftime activities during Saturday’s football game will include performances by the Blue Devil marching band and the Highsteppers as well as the crowning of a homecoming king and queen and an announcement of the results of the parade float competition.
Principal Brenden Cusack said organizing for the weekend is already underway. Student government advisors Fred Bisogno and Anthony Troffa and building-wide and grade level student leaders are charged with producing the festivities. There could be some new elements that will complement long held traditions.
Last fall’s festivities drew about 2,000 fans to Blue Devil Stadium, including many alumni of the school.