On Oct.11th and 12th, Freedom Area High School hosted their annual Homecoming festivities, which included a pep assembly and dance, which were followed by the Homecoming Festival and huge Homecoming football game the following day.

The pep assembly took place during PLT at the end of the day on Friday, Oct. 11th. The whole school district was present for this assembly. During the assembly, they showcased each of the Homecoming court members to the entire school district. The Homecoming court also performed their traditional dance to popular music, while adding props and entertaining the crowd.

The Homecoming dance took place on Oct. 11th, at 7 p.m. At the dance, students had the opportunity to dance with friends and enjoy beverages and snacks. Prizes were given out to many students, and students were given the opportunity to take pictures at a photo booth. The number of students attending was one of the highest totals in the past several years, with roughly 290 students in total.

It wasn’t until the parade that Homecoming fully kicked off. The Freedom “Big Red” Marching Band marched through downtown Freedom during the annual Homecoming parade. Local police and fire departments also took part in the parade, where they drove their respective vehicles. The Homecoming court was also represented by driving in their respective couples during the parade.

A large majority of the clubs at the high school took part in the festivities, showing off their creativity with different activities and booth ideas. Some of the clubs that took part in the festival included the Drama Club, Art Club, Physics Club and Robotics Club.

This year’s festival included a car, which students could pay to hit and demolish. Students also had the opportunity to get their faces painted or tie-dye their own shirt while learning more about each program in the school district. Alumni and faculty also came out to enjoy the fun.

To start off the football game later in the day, the band performed pregame, which led the way for all of the Homecoming Court. The court this year included seniors Alexsia Barlamas and Riley Adams, Marydeth Feits and Tannor Boyer, Taylor Greene and Nick Dinardo, Claudia Huggins and Noah Henderson, Robin Kaufman and Riley Mcllvain, Melissa Keith and Jacob Pail, Kyrstin Mercier and Cody Ross, Myla Sharpless and Sam Socash, Madison Slowinski and Zach Ward and Trisha Speicher and Noah Yeck.

They also had two sets of twins who were crowned the Homecoming Princesses and Princes. Those kids were Corinne Coennen and Karissa Coennen and Brett Niedbala and Luke Niedbala. Children of both Andrea Niedbala, and Christopher Coennen, members of the High school faculty.

At the end of the pregame, this year’s Homecoming Queen and King were crowned, which was Melissa Keith, and Riley Adams.

Homecoming ended with the traditional bonfire, which also took place after the football game. The bonfire was located in the field between the middle school and the high school. They also shot off fireworks leaving the day off on a high note.