Aside from the annual Homecoming parade, the OUAA has planned a coffee hour in Schoonover Center, a tailgate sponsored by the College of Business, and a chili cook-off sponsored by the Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education in which alumni are invited to judge. The OUAA will also award several individual alums for their professional accomplishments following their time at OU.
Many of the events alumni are encouraged to partake in require registration, which has proven to be an indicator of how many alumni will be returning to OU, said Jennifer Bowie, the interim associate vice president of alumni relations and executive director of the OUAA and advancement chief of staff.
"Based on everything that I'm seeing in terms of just traffic on our websites and registrations for the few things that people registered for, I think it's going to feel more typical," Bowie said. "It'll feel like a more typical homecoming with thousands of alumni in town; I know the hotels are full."
Jean Yousefi, a 1986 alumna who studied psychology, will be traveling to Athens for Homecoming with her daughter and son-in-law, who are also OU alumni. Yousefi said she is most looking forward to the parade, specifically the Marching 110 alums' performance during the parade.
"My favorite thing is always the parade and watching the alumni band. That's always a highlight, Yousefi said. "Then we'll probably go to the football game, which is funny because neither myself nor my daughter nor her husband ever went to the football games when we were there but we'll probably go do it as alumni."
As a former Marching 110 trombonist, Mike Voytek, a 1991 alum who studied music education, said the performing spirit of each member is lasting. For him, returning to perform is one of the best parts of OU's Homecoming celebration.
"It's just cool to kind of relive our glory," Voytek said. "I mean, obviously, we're not the people we were 20, 30, 40 years ago, but we still love performing just as much as we did back then, and to have that opportunity to perform and then to know that it's appreciated by the community is just a great feeling."
Kate Lindon, a 2002 alumna who studied journalism, will march in Saturday's parade and play the mellophone. Her husband, Luke Lindon, a 2003 alum who studied journalism, said he would also return to Athens to catch up with friends and continue to follow the 110 around as he did when he was an undergrad.
Since they've graduated, the Lindons have only missed two of OU's Homecomings, one of which was around the time their son was born and the other due to COVID-19. However, they said a trip to Athens, from wherever they are at the time, is an October ritual.
"You have a special feeling when you're there and you even if you can experience it again for just a short time and see people you know and walk on the same path as you walked to go to class and go out that it's worth it," Kate Lindon said.
Although Luke Lindon said he is looking forward to catching up with old friends and former professors, seeing current students live as he did years ago is eye-opening.
"We're connected to you as bobcats and to celebrate your journey and how you've made Athens your own, and to see how that's evolved and taken a step forward it's just really cool," Luke Lindon said.
Of those returning to Athens to revisit their college years, 500 to 600 are expected to be alumni of the Marching 110, said Nate Gilcher, a 2001 alum and the homecoming chair on the board of directors for the Marching 110 alumni network.
In memory of the Marching 110's first band director, Gene Thrailkill, who died in November 2021, the halftime performance of the Homecoming football game will feature songs Thrailkill selected, Gilcher said. Compared to regular years, nearly 100 more alumni are expected to participate in this year's homecoming because of the tribute show.
"We'll be playing all arrangements that he played when he was the conductor of the Marching 110 … to honor his legacy," Gilcher said. "He was kind of the guy that said, 'Instead of playing show tunes, we're going to play rock radio hits.'"
In addition to the alumni events offered by the OUAA, Marching 110 members will also be able to end the day on Saturday at an off-campus gathering at the Eclipse Company Store in The Plains.