DeKALB | For the first time, the 2006 NIU Homecoming Parade will share the spotlight with the city of DeKalb.

NIU and DeKalb are coming together for one parade to celebrate NIU’s 100th Homecoming and DeKalb’s 150th anniversary.

Friday, is the deadline for submitting entry applications. The parade is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21; there is no entry charge for submissions. It will begin at 9 a.m. on Third Street and Lincoln Highway and end on the NIU campus at Stevenson Towers.

The theme, “Celebrating Community,” ties together NIU and DeKalb.

“I think it’s going to be huge,” said Becky Harlow, assistant director of student involvement and leadership development.

As of last week, seven NIU groups signed up to participate in the event. There are 80 entries in all.

The NIU Huskie Marching Band and ROTC are just two of the groups who have already signed up.

Thomas Bough, director of the NIU Huskie Marching Band, said the band is looking forward to the parade. This will be his second year as director at NIU, he said, and they participate every year. The preparation is not that different from anything else that the band does because they work on the same material year-round.

Even though the deadline is quickly approaching, many things are in the works. Harlow says that they are trying to get previous NIU presidents to participate and the person who wrote the fight song for NIU will be in the parade. The Greek chapters usually get involved as well.

There is a consensus that NIU’s 2006 Homecoming Parade will be bigger and longer. For the city of DeKalb’s centennial, more than 100 groups signed up.

“It’s going to be different than any other parade DeKalb has ever seen,” Harlow said.

Ebony McCline is a Campus Reporter for the

Northern Star.