Clemson’s Homecoming floats are the peak of creative design. Students have the manpower of many organizations to back up whatever they can come up with. The large displays are works of art that create a phenomenal hallway on Bowman Field each year. For the past two years, these floats have been built under extreme conditions.
Hurricane Helene destroyed the floats and left Bowman Field utterly destroyed last year. Wood posts stood as grave markers of where the floats had once stood. This year, there was cold, rainy weather that resembled similar conditions to the previous year. Tarps covered the floats, and the field itself only grew muddier each day.
The floats are made by various organizations, most notably Clemson’s Greek life groups. Sorority sisters and fraternity brothers construct the floats from the ground up with scaffolding, tissue paper and a dream.
Last year, I had the opportunity to work on a float in both the rain and good weather, which felt like polar opposite conditions.
You’re required to log a certain number of hours working on the floats, too, at least as a sorority sister. As heard around the float sites, fraternity brothers have to stay at the floats unless they have class. Lots of sororities have sisters log about five to seven hours of pomping, or making the tissue designs, which can be hazardous under weather conditions.
Keeping students out in the rain and cold weather between classes, anytime from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. the next day, can lead to all sorts of issues, especially for those who are prone to sickness.
Thankfully, there are tents, and students show up with coats and boots most of the time, but the worst part is that a lot of the work can be destroyed by a strong gust or a particularly hard rainstorm. I can only imagine the stress and money costs on each organization’s leadership for these floats.
As much as there are potential health and safety issues, pomping is a great opportunity to actually get to meet or talk to other organizations. You can always find the opportunity to network and have a creative output. This year, we got to see a lot of gorgeous floats on Bowman before the Homecoming game. The creativity that organizations show in incorporating Clemson’s most famous aspects into the floats, with moving and non-moving aspects, is always stunning.
Sarah Bandhauer is a sophomore food science major from Brevard, North Carolina. Sarah can be reached at [email protected].
