FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – As South Florence High battled Carolina Forest on the field of Florence Memorial Stadium, South Florence’s classes fought another battle.
The battle for best homecoming float.
It’s homecoming tradition that each class design and build a float for the homecoming football game. This year, the theme was ‘Roaring ’20s.’
“When I first heard the theme I first thought, ‘Roaring ’20s, that’s not going to be really fun,'” Sophomore Class Secretary Brooke Jenkins said. “But once I saw it all come together, I was like oh this is going to be really fun.”
As one might imagine, a bit of friendly competition was sparked.
“The judges are going to look at it in a few moments to see if we win or not, but we are, so no need to worry about that,” Freshmen Class President Connor Denny said.
In the end, it was the junior class that ended up winning.
It was the juniors’ third year to take the title for best float. The class had been working hard all week to perfect this year’s effort.
“We started on Saturday and worked all the way up to today,” Junior Julianna Gray said. “We were there from 5 to 8 every night. So it took us a long time but we had about 30 people in our class really come out.”
Four judges rated the floats based on categories like originality and creativity.
Regardless of who wins, Student Government Advisor and South Florence teacher Elizabeth Collins says the experience is valuable to students.
“They get a chance to really express use their creative juices, and that’s really fun too,” she said.
Floats have been a tradition for decades at South Florence, but began to wane in recent years. Collins headed the initiative to revitalize the homecoming event.
“I wanted to bring that back because the kids enjoy it so much,” she said. “And so it’s something we’ve been doing for many years. As long as I can remember.”
And all indications Friday point to this tradition being enjoyed for many more.
