The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
THe traditional Burning of the W, overseen by the town fire department due to the high wind.
Members of the Homecoming court visit for a moment before climbing into their chariot.
The W formed by the students to celebrate Homecoming
The M formed by the students to celebrate Homecoming
As students wait for the parade to begin, they prepare their posters, showing their support.
Long time assistant football coach Ben Glenn leads the procession as Grand Marshal.
The Wolves' Homecoming carried a little different flavor this year, following changes that came in with new principal Nick Redden.
"I brought in a couple ideas to celebrate athletes a little more and, as we saw in Coronation, we had the Parade of Athletes and that included Rodeo and Special Olympics," he says.
"Even the kids who aren't in athletics – we've got fine arts, band...all of our kids are doing amazing things and we have to find a way to display that."
Every class, teacher and auxiliary staff member of the secondary school building was gathered in the gymnasium last Thursday to participate in the making of a giant "M", representing Moorcroft immediately followed by the elementary classes and staff creating a "W" for Wolves.
The celebration continued with the parade showing the Moorcroft green and white as well as the Wolf Pack leading the procession followed by the Pups on their own wagon, cheering in the face of often gale force winds. This year's Grand Marshal, lifelong Moorcroft resident and long-time assistant football coach Ben Glenn, traveled in a buttercream Mercury Comet, driven by Jeff Holberg.
The burning of the symbolic "M" at sundown was short lived and carefully managed by members of the volunteer fire department due to high winds, but was still attended by many Wolves of varying ages challenging all with the school battle cry.
Redden later commended the staff for their support of the festivities this year, saying, "Homecoming doesn't happen unless you have the staff backing it, which we did and they did an amazing job all the way from janitorial across the board with everyone...We [also] have an amazing student council and advisers."