Glenwood Takes Homecoming Seriously: 90th Parade, Rams Football, and a Week of Tradition

Glenwood Takes Homecoming Seriously: 90th Parade, Rams Football, and a Week of Tradition

 

 

Glenwood does not treat homecoming as a one-night football game. Organizers call it a week-long celebration, and this year it lands on a round number: the 90th annual homecoming parade, set for 1:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16, on the town square.

Jen Wilson, president of the Glenwood Alumni Association, and Holly Jackson, co-chair of the parade committee, stopped by the KCSI studio Monday morning to walk through the weekend and make one point more than once: this is a Glenwood event, but neighbors are welcome.

 

At a glance

• Friday, Oct. 16, 6:30–9 a.m. — Glenwood Fire and Rescue pancake feed, free-will donation.

• Friday, Oct. 16, shuttles from 12:15 p.m. — Glenwood Middle School lot and Russ’s Market.

• Friday, Oct. 16, 1:30 p.m. — 90th homecoming parade, town square. Theme: 50 States, 250 Years. Grand marshal: Ed Martin.

• Friday night — Rams vs. Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson; ninth-grade game also scheduled; drone show after the varsity game at the activities complex.

• Saturday, Oct. 17 — Homecoming Scramble; coronation 7 p.m., high school auditorium, $5 at the door; alumni street dance on the square from 7 p.m., $5 for kindergarten and older; fire station overnight meal afterward.

• Commercial floats, bands, and parade volunteers: Glenwood Homecoming Parade Facebook page.

 

Glenwood Alumni Association street dance, the group’s main scholarship fundraiser. Started 2019.

• When: Saturday, Oct. 17. Street opens at 7 p.m.

• Where: Glenwood town square.

• Cover: $5 for kindergarten and older. Younger children free.

• Music: the Bellringers, a ’90s cover band.

• Food: Smokin’ Oak Barbecue and Tasty Treats of Council Bluffs. Bar: Perea Cocktail Lounge.

• Also Saturday: Homecoming Scramble; coronation 7 p.m. at the high school auditorium, $5 at the door.

• After: Glenwood Fire and Rescue overnight meal at the station.

• Extra ask: $1,936 for 1936, a separate scholarship-fund drive for the 90th homecoming.

 

Class of 1976 Trades Fireworks for a Drone Show After the Glenwood Homecoming Game

The class that started the postgame fireworks tradition 25 years ago is marking its 50th reunion with lights in the sky over the activities complex. Fireworks return next year.

After the Glenwood Rams play Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson on Friday, Oct. 16, the sky over the activities complex will not light up with fireworks. It will light up with drones.

The show is a gift from the Glenwood Community High School class of 1976, which holds its 50-year reunion during homecoming weekend. The same class started the postgame fireworks tradition at its 25th reunion in 2001. That display became a homecoming habit. This year the class asked to raise the stakes, raised the money itself, and is putting on a drone show instead.

Jen Wilson, president of the Glenwood Alumni Association, said the class came to her with the idea. She knows what the fireworks cost. A drone show, she told them, was beyond what the association could raise.

“They’re like, ‘You know what? We got it.’ And they got it,” Wilson said on KCSI Monday. “That class is sponsoring a drone show after the football game.”

Fireworks will return next year. “The class of ’76, they got to do something special,” she said.