As a crisp fall breeze swept through Gainesville, students, alumni and families gathered to celebrate the Gator Nation’s annual Homecoming celebration Friday.
The UF campus shut down Friday to make room for Homecoming festivities, including the Gator Gallop run, a festival and the Homecoming parade.
The activities built school spirit before Friday’s Gator Growl concert and Saturday’s football game while providing a space for families and students to partake in fun, laid-back events that bring the Gator Nation together.
Gator Gallop
The long-standing tradition of Gator Gallop, a 2.2 mile run through campus, began and ended at the Plaza of Americas. Runners set off at 8:30 a.m.
Abigail Fisher, a 25-year-old UF international studies senior, attended the Gator Gallop with her twin sister, Hannah Fisher, a 25-year-old UF international studies senior. Abigail Fisher said she and her sister had never attended the run before, but because they are graduating this semester, they wanted to fully experience their last Homecoming together as UF students.
The sisters are training for their first half-marathon, which will take place in December, so they said the Gator Gallop was a light run for them.
“I love doing these little fun runs because you always have a level,” Hannah Fisher said. “You have the really serious people and the people who are gonna have fun. I think we’re in the middle.”
Joshua Betska, a 20-year-old UF computer science junior, participated in the Gator Gallop because he used to run track and wanted to add some cardio to his Friday. Betska said he wanted to complete the entire run without stopping.
“I’m feeling good,” he said. “It’s like two miles so I think I got it.”
Gator alumni also came out to the fun run. Katie Harris, a 55-year-old UF graduate, said she comes to homecoming every year and has attended the Gator Gallop multiple times.
She said Gator Gallop is different from marathons and 5K runs because runners don't receive chip timing, and only the three fastest runners are recognized, rather than the fastest runner in each age group.
“It’s just fun to be a Gator,” Harris said. “It’s fun to be at homecoming.”
Homecoming Festival
The smell of cotton candy filled the Plaza of the Americas as an on-campus Homecoming festival began at 10:30 a.m. Children dressed in orange and blue lined up in front of bounce houses while parents, alumni and students toured tables with different activities, prizes and snacks.
Olivia Eytcheson, a 26-year-old marketing manager for the Newberry Animal Hospital, was standing underneath a tent educating passersby about the hospital. This is the hospital's second time tabling at the festival where they set up a table with drink koozies, flyers about hospital care for pets and a raffle for a basket full of pet-related goodies.
Eytcheson is a UF alum and was excited to participate, she said.
“We like to connect with our clients outside of the hospital and get to know them on a personal level,” Eytcheson said.
The hospital's biggest goal was to help educate Gainesville residents on resources for their pets and celebrate the Gator Nation, Eytcheson added.
“I think it’s a great way to connect with the students because the students are such a big part of our community,” she said.
Novia Lestari, a 25-year-old UF mass communication student, was tabling with the Indonesian Student Association. She said she wanted to help showcase Indonesian culture and help visitors of the festival learn about her country.
It’s her third month in the U.S., so she wanted to help other international students who may need help finding community at the university.
“It’s really helpful to have the Indonesian Student Association here to help me adjust to the new environment,” she said. “It makes me less homesick.”
Malika Green, a 44-year-old editorial assistant, was seated outside the bounce houses while her 6-year-old played inside. She grew up in Gainesville and moved back three years ago. While she herself is not a UF alum, her grandfather used to be a UF professor, so she grew up surrounded by orange and blue.
“We’ve had fun here the past couple years,” Green said. “We usually come to the festival and then walk over to the parade.”
She spent her morning stationed outside the bounce houses but enjoys listening to the music and feeling the excitement, she said.
“The whole city shuts down for homecoming, so to have a family event like this is really nice,” she said.
Among first-timers at the festival was Amanda Collingham, an 18-year-old UF elementary education freshman. She’s an out-of-state student from Maryland who wanted to get into the school spirit, she said.
She said she’d prefer more student-centered activities separate from the family-friendly ones. Family-friendly activities include bounce houses, coloring, video games, a slime-making station and cornhole. However, she was looking forward to the parade and seeing UF alligator mascots, Albert and Alberta.
While she said she understood that not all the events are geared toward current students, Collingham added it’s a good way to garner school spirit.
“It’s really important to have these kinds of events so that you could encourage people to come here and help alum reconnect with their school,” she said.
Homecoming Parade
11:30 a.m.
The Voice of the Gator Nation – UF’s Gator Marching Band – gathered together ahead of the iconic Homecoming Parade.
Shea Whitacre, section leader of the bass drumline and a 21-year-old UF mechanical engineering senior, completed her fourth year marching in the parade.
“It's always an honor that we get to lead and do the parade every single year,” she said. “It's cool to interact with young kids that are here. We'd like to represent the University of Florida as best as we can, and we do that well as a drumline.”
Eli Corneliussen, a sousaphone player and a 19-year-old UF music education sophomore, said he thinks the parade is important because it provides the opportunity for people who aren’t interested in football to participate in Homecoming and see more of the band.
“Gainesville is pretty much defined by gators and their music,” he said.
12 p.m.
Hundreds of people lined up to watch and loudly cheer on the homecoming parade as it marched up 13th Street and down West University Avenue toward Bo Diddley Plaza. Local politicians, Gainesville high school organizations and the Gator Marching Band were among the parade’s performers.
Louis Katz, an 18-year-old UF mechanical engineering freshman, said he was woken up by the sound of band members rehearsing, so he decided to go watch the parade. His father, a UF alum, also recommended he watch the parade.
“I like the fire trucks, and the band is always cool to see,” he said. “It's cool to get the spirit in. It’s great to be a Florida Gator, gotta hammer that in.”
Holly Chapman, a 69-year-old Jacksonville resident, said she and her family have seen the homecoming parade about 25 times. She and her family drove down from Jacksonville to see Saturday’s football game with their season tickets.
“The last time, I didn't think [the parade] was that good,” she said, “but I've enjoyed it this year. It seems like there's more participation and more Gator spirit than the last time.”
Tee Marsh, a 40-year-old Gainesville resident, said her 15-year-old daughter, Niyah, is in the parade as part of Buchholz High School’s Aviance Color Guard. This is her third time seeing the parade.
“Everybody be doing their own thing,” she said. “But we are all out here today, celebrating. We're all out here together, having fun.”
Corie Evans, a 26-year-old Alabama resident and a UF 2020 alumna, said she’s tried to come to the parade almost every year. She grew up in Gainesville and participated in the parade as a child and later as a UF student.
“It's still really exciting,” she said. “It's just a different experience watching. But, I like to watch all the people who have come after me and cheer them on because it was such a special time in my life at the time.”
She said she drove down from Alabama to see the parade and the football game.
“A lot of times, UF students and the institution can be separated from the community,” Evans said. “It's good to have an event like this that brings us all together.”
Gator Growl
Taking the stage around 7 p.m., Lynch immediately captivated the audience with his blend of country charm and hits that dominated the charts. The Tennessee-born singer-songwriter, who has achieved 10 number-one hits and boasts five studio albums, was a fitting choice to headline this year’s event. His performance of crowd favorites like “Small Town Boy” and “Chevrolet” showcased why Lynch has remained a staple in the country music scene.
Beyond the music, Lynch’s deep connection to UF was unmistakable throughout his performance. The artist has been vocal about his love for Gator Nation, a bond strengthened by his father’s time on the UF football team.
Annie Wang, Delia Rose Sauer and Timothy Wang contributed to this report.
This is an Alligator Staff Report.
