The parade route will begin on West Union Street, then will continue down South Congress Street, President Street, Court Street, Washington Street and College Street. The procession will re-enter Union Street and finish on University Terrace. A cohesive map of the route can be found on OU's website.
Andrew Chicki, Athens' deputy service-safety director, wrote in an email that the roads will be closed on a rolling basis following the parade's progress.
This year's parade will feature 77 organizations, Samantha Pelham, a university spokesperson, said. Of those groups, approximately 55 are OU student organizations.
The Asian, Asian American and Pacific Islanders: Leadership, Education, Advocacy and Development (AAPI-LEAD) group, a faculty organization, will be marching in the parade for the first time this weekend.
Yuchun Zhou, the organization leader, said AAPI-LEAD is focused on bringing diversity and inclusion into the spotlight at OU.
As part of the group's goals, its board has members from at least five different cultural backgrounds. Zhou said in previous years the group was focused on combating Asian hate, but they have now shifted to a broader goal.
"Our next step is to recruit members and to have the communication and the conversation between people from different cultures," Zhou said. "We want the people from Western cultures to know us, to know Asian cultures and then we can have some cultural communication, cross cultural understanding. So in this way, we can improve people's multicultural knowledge and awareness."
"Our next step is to recruit members and to have the communication and the conversation between people from different cultures," Zhou said. "We want the people from Western cultures to know us, to know Asian cultures and then we can have some cultural communication, cross cultural understanding. So in this way, we can improve people's multicultural knowledge and awareness."
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