Making the most of it: What Baylor Homecoming will look like for 2020

Like so many other things this year, it’s no surprise that #BaylorHomecoming 2020 won’t look like most of the Homecomings we remember. With COVID-19 leading to restrictions on large group gatherings, bringing the entire Baylor Family together for a weekend just isn’t a good idea, so BU was left with two options: Cancel Homecoming entirely, or find a way to make it work in another form.

Thankfully, Baylor staff and Chamber members chose option 2, and have spent the fall figuring out how to make as much of Homecoming accessible as possible. Their solution offers a mix of options — online versions of beloved traditions that allow alumni to participate from wherever they may be, mixed with on-campus events for the students already here.

Highlights for alumni include:

• Singspiration — a night of worship for the entire Baylor Family, featuring congregational singing and choral music from a variety of styles. Registration required. (Thursday, 6:30 p.m.)
• Mass Meeting — For the first time, the entire Baylor Family is invited to join our newest class of students as we retell the story of the Immortal 10 and present the Eternal Flame. (Thursday, 8 p.m.)
• Pigskin Revue — Another first: See the best of this spring’s All University Sing from the comfort of your own home! Tickets are available now. (Friday and Saturday, 6:30 p.m.)
• Pep Rally — This year’s event, carried live online, will include a presentation of student-created floats, traditional parade balloons and other parade entries, plus a finale fireworks show from the roof of McLane Stadium. (Friday, 8:00 p.m.)

Students have additional in-person opportunities on Friday night:

• Dinner with the Livingstones — Some of Waco’s most popular food trucks with be at McLane Stadium, the student tailgating area and Touchdown Alley offering free meals for students. (Friday, 6 p.m.)
• Pigskin Revue/Pep Rally — Large outdoor screens at the venues above will livestream Pigskin and the Pep Rally, culminating with an in-person view of the McLane Stadium fireworks. (Friday, 6:30 p.m.)
• (Each gathering will follow Baylor’s COVID-19 mask guidelines and social distancing precautions.)

And of course, Saturday would have been the football game, but the Bears’ match-up against Oklahoma State has been rescheduled for Dec. 12 due to a significant increase in positive COVID-19 cases inside the football program. (Class Reunions have also been rescheduled, with plans for an Alumni Weekend in April.)

Is all this ideal? No, of course not. But we can either focus on what we’re missing, or we can be grateful for what we have — in this case, the opportunity to celebrate Baylor Homecoming worldwide, including by many who wouldn’t have been able to make it back to Waco in-person. And of course, we can look forward to gathering again in Waco next year for Homecoming 2021!

Sic ’em, Bears!

[Also — as always, Homecoming gear is available: t-shirts, sweatshirts and more. (If you love Sailor Bear, this is your time.) ]