State College Area High School’s homecoming parade on Sept. 28 won’t be following its traditional route ending downtown at Memorial Field.
Citing “concerns about safety and other issues,” the school district informed students and families last week that this year’s parade will instead start at State High and travel through the Holmes-Foster and Greentree neighborhoods before ending back at the high school, followed by a pep rally at the South Track complex.
In the past, the parade has typically traveled from the high school on Westerly Parkway, crossed South Atherton Street, made its way down South Allen Street and concluded with a pep rally at Memorial Field.
State College Borough and the police department “expressed concern about being able to safeguard students crossing several intersections, primarily Atherton Street,” SCASD spokesman Chris Rosenblum wrote in an email to StateCollege.com.
“There’s less traffic on the Holmes-Foster and Greentree streets, and thus it’s easier to cordon the parade route off and detour traffic,” Rosenblum wrote.
Crossing Atherton Street for the parade has “always been a major concern,” State College police Capt. Greg Brauser said, one that is exacerbated this year by road construction work in the area of the Westerly Parkway intersection as part of the ongoing Atherton Street project.
The altered route has other benefits as well, according to the district. In past years, students had to walk back to the high school from Memorial Field in the dark after the parade and pep rally for their cars or rides.
“By circling back to the high school, the parade will eliminate that danger, as well as the congestion that resulted from the route ending along Nittany Avenue by Memorial,” Rosenblum wrote.
He added that the changed route travels past more SCASD family homes than the primarily Penn State student rentals along Westerly Parkway and Allen Street, “making it more of a district celebration.”
The new route is similar to the one used in 2019 when Memorial Field was undergoing renovations, with part of the Greentree neighborhood added for this year’s parade.
The parade is scheduled to take place from approximately 5:45 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 28 and will travel on the following route:
- From the high school, west on Westerly Parkway
- Right on South Sparks Street
- Left on West Fairmount Street
- Left on Westerly Parkway
- Right on Saxton Drive
- Left on South Sparks Street
- Right on Westerly Parkway to return to the high school
