During an extended 20-minute halftime during Friday night’s football game at Clemens Field, Philomath High School’s eight royalty candidates arrived on floats and vehicles to the applause of the crowd.
Gallery: Philomath High Homecoming Parade and Royalty Announcement (Oct. 11, 2024)
A collection of photos from the Philomath High School homecoming parade in the morning and the announcement of homecoming royalty in the evening on Friday.
Parents, grandparents and other family members of those up for the top honors were among them, of course, and after the announcements had been made, there were a lot of photos to be taken to add to family albums or to be shared on social media.
Seniors Silas Pittman and Aspen Russell were announced as the king and queen. Both appeared to be thankful for receiving their crowns — last year’s king, Ben McGovern, did the honors — and both had trouble putting into words how they felt about receiving the distinction.
“I think it’s more of a gift from everybody else,” Pittman said. “I didn’t really do much for it and I don’t know if I deserved it but you know, I got it and it’s kind of cool.”
Russell simply said she has no idea how she ended up with the queen’s crown — obviously, she is a well-liked and popular student.
The process to choose a king and queen involved a series of votes by students. The finalists — two each from the freshman, sophomore and junior classes and four from the senior class — all arrived at Clemens Field on the track in front of the home grandstands riding on floats or in vehicles.
In addition to Pittman and Russell, finalists included freshmen Rainey Hamblin and James Avery, sophomores Gunner Eveland and Wyatt Coen, juniors Logan Cook and Maggie King, and seniors Mitchell Berklund and Katie Choi.
Homecoming week’s activities included a pancake breakfast on Monday, staff trivia at lunch on Tuesday, a powder-puff game and bonfire on Wednesday, the homecoming parade, tailgater event and football halftime royalty announcement on Friday and the homecoming dance on Saturday. The homecoming dance theme was “Grammy’s.” Plus, there were assemblies to keep up school spirit while having some fun with various activities.
Pittman enjoyed the school’s Friday morning assembly.
“We do an assembly at the end of homecoming week and it was really fun,” Pittman said. “The ASB put on a really good show and I really enjoyed it. You do activities and then if you did something wrong or didn’t win then you would get like a pie in the face or something like that.”
Russell said she most enjoyed the dress-up days that were part of the festivities over the week. This year’s theme was “We’ve Got the Beat” and each day revolved around specific songs and attire — “The Lazy Song” (pajamas and comfy clothes), “Party in the USA” (red, white and blue), “Thrift Shop” (mismatched or wacky clothes), “Should’ve Been a Cowboy (cowboy hats, boots, denim, flannel) and “My House” (black and gold plus anything but a backpack).
