By TOM STANKARD
Wakefield - To celebrate the community and school spirit, the Gogebic Miners had a parade and cheered at a pep rally Wednesday during Homecoming Week.
On a "beautiful" fall evening, students from Bessemer Schools and Wakefield-Marenisco came together to show their school spirit.
With the sound of a police siren, the parade got underway, led by a fleet of fire trucks, ambulances and patrol cars from local law enforcement departments.
Close behind, the WakefieldMarenisco marching bandbanged their drums and played horns to the sounds of school songs.
Full of pep, the Gogebic Miner cheerleaders waived pom-poms in the air and and chanted team cheers. As they walked the streets, the crowd lining the streets joined in.
Following the cheerleaders, students representing their class walked beside or sat in vehicles pulling floats they made.
While walking or riding, some students threw candy to children or waived to the crowd.
Watching the parade, head teacher Brandon Makela said he was impressed by the floats this year.
"The students did an excellent job with the floats, they're the best floats I've seen in years," he said.
After the parade, it was time for a pep rally in the Wakefield-Marenisco gym decorated with posters and banners the students made.
To begin, the royal party was introduced, students recited the Pledge of Allegiance and the school band played the National Anthem.
Two by two, the couples made their way across the gym. Feeling the suspense, the winners crowned homecoming king and queen were Lauren Grace and Caleb Greenough. The "king" said they felt honored to be crowned.
"It feels pretty good to have everyone look up to me as a person," he said. "It's a high school moment you don't get all the time."
Following the coronation, the Gogebic Miner cheerleaders led the crowd in school chants and danced to popular hit songs.
Then students, grade 7-12 competed in a variation of "Hungry, Hungry Hippos." To play, one student held another students legs while that student used boxes to gather balls and bring them to their side. The team with the most balls on their side won.
Once the court was cleared of balls and boxes, the cheerleaders came back and said one last cheer and then Makela gave his closing remarks.
Looking back, Kai Moverich, a cheerleader, said she's going to miss homecoming.
"I'm going to miss decorating floats, class competitions and all that good stuff," she said.
Moverich said the parade and pep rally celebrate the community.
"It's a really great way to bring the community together," she said.