Illinois State University's homecoming pep rally kicked off Monday evening, wrapped into Uptown Normal's annual tree lighting.
In year's past, the homecoming kickoff ceremony was held on the university Quad. Festivities this year included giveaways for students, performances by the Big Red Marching Machine, and speeches from university president Aondover Tarhule and Brock Spack, head coach of the ISU football team.
“These are the types of things that all our Redbirds want to come back to remember,” said Tarhule.
With red and white being the colors of Illinois State, residents can expect the lights to remain until the end of winter.
“It illuminates our uptown with the beautiful colors for Illinois State University, but then we have the same colors for the holiday season,” said Chemberly Harris, a Normal Town Council member. “So, it's just such a beautiful thing to see.”
Event organizers said the 12th annual tree lighting became the first time it corresponded with the homecoming kickoff to get more student participation.
“Last year with the students, we went from kickoff to the tree lighting, and we saw lots of students following us,” said Kris Harding, ISU's executive director of alumni engagement. “And so then we thought, ‘Let's merge the two.’ So it made logical sense.”
This season’s homecoming football game will be played Saturday against North Dakota State, a decade after the 2014 season when ISU lost 29-27 to the Bison in the FCS national championship game.
“And this is a kind of a rematch every time we play,” said Spack. “This is kind of a special game.”
Other homecoming week events include Redbird Rumble on Tuesday night, an Alumni Day luncheon on Friday and University Galleries exhibits open throughout the week. Saturday will feature the Town and Gown parade at 8 a.m., the homecoming parade at 10 a.m. and the game at 2 p.m.
