Besides the year of 1957, in which the committee did not choose a theme, every Ball State homecoming has followed a theme. Here are some of Ball State’s notable homecoming themes from 1958 to the present:
1958- Fiesta
1963- Festival of Fame
1966- Hoosier Highlights
1968- Disney Daze
1969- Historical Headlines
1972- Ball State—Our world
1977- The Greatest Show on Earth
1980- A Wild, Wild Midwest
1982- Way Down Yonder in New Orleans
1984- The Greatest Show on Earth
1988- Celebrate Ball State—The Time of Our lives
1991- Ball State: Road Trip to Europe
1994- It’s in the Cards
2003- Wild With Pride
2006- Cheers to 80 Years
2011- It’s a bird ... It’s a Game … It’s Homecoming
2012- Play Your Cards Right
2013 There’s No Place Like Homecoming
2014- Cardinal Strong
2015- The Greatest Show on Turf
This year's is "the Greatest Show on Turf." Think circus, but combined with the annual football game that’s played on Scheumann Stadium's turf.
That’s what the steering committee imagined when planning the theme for the event that will begin in October.
“When we decided on a circus theme, we came up with the name ‘The Greatest Show on Turf,’ since it tied in with ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ that people relate to when they think of circus," said Hayley Williams, a senior public relations major and Ball State homecoming chair.
Choosing a theme is a decades-old tradition.
Ball State's presented its first homecoming in 1957, but it wasn’t until the second year that the event’s committee began assigning a theme to its annual tradition. The first theme was “Fiesta.”
Not only do the themes change every year, but no homecoming is quite like the year before, Williams said. The committee attempts to build onto what's been done in the past.
This year's homecoming will have more attractions in the Homecoming Village.
Jonah Katz, a senior marketing major and committee member, thinks the new theme will present a great opportunity for students to get involved.
“This is one of those themes where we can really do a lot of different things in terms of events and student engagement,” Katz said.
May the homecoming hype begin.
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