Every year, Edward Little and Lewiston High have their rival football game, “The Battle of the Bridge.” And every year the Lewiston High School’s student council puts on Spirit Week, to show how much school spirit Lewiston has. But this year, it’s different. For our 159th game, we are going back to a long-lived tradition, Homecoming Week, leading up to the big football home game on Oct. 23.

As Mr. Bouchles, our assistant principal who’s spearheading this whole event, has been saying since day one and at every weekly meeting leading up to this event, “We’re starting from a clean piece of paper,” and we have. New dress days, new after-school activities, a different assembly, a bonfire, a dance, a parade, and of course, the football game, are all a part of this year’s homecoming celebration.

LHS’s student council has assigned the dress days and come up with some exciting after-school activities. The dress days for this week are in the order of days of the week: Blast from the Past Day, Mix and Match Day, Support Our Troops Day, Pro-sports Day, and, our long-held tradition, Blue and White Day. The point of the dress days is to raise points for your class. If one student from one class dresses up, the class he/she is a member of gets one point. Teachers at the beginning of the day count up the number of students who dressed up and which class they are from and report the number. At the assembly on Friday, the winning class is announced. The after-school activities are in the same format with no activity on Friday: X-Box Challenge, Adventure Challenge (ropes course), Car Push, and Tug-of-War. These are competitions between the classes. These also count towards the classes’ points. A thanks to Mrs. Madore and Mrs. St. Laurent, for being the advisors for the student council and to Mr. Theriault, Mr. Capone, and Officer Landry for supervising the after-school activities. On Friday at 1 p.m., there will be a brand new rally, organized and run by Mr. Amnott. Thank you!

On the night of Oct. 22, a bonfire and dance are going to be held at the high school. The bonfire will commence in the lower student parking lot, by the track, at 7:30 and will end at 8:30. If people get cold or don’t want to be at the bonfire anymore, the dance starts in the cafeteria at 8 and ends at 11. The dress is casual, due to the bonfire. It only makes sense. The tickets will be $3 each ahead of time, $4 at the door. Thanks to Mr. Hutchins for organizing the bonfire and the LHS Football Booster Organization for running the dance.

Saturday, Oct. 23 is the day of the big game. There will be a parade, which has never been done before, in all of 133 years of rivalry. The parade will represent the EL and Lewiston rivalry, but also will show support for our troops. The Lewiston side’s assembly time is from 8:30 to 9 at the intersection of Lincoln and Main Street, at the bridge. If you are marching in the parade, it is requested that you are dropped off, rather than drive, at the event. EL will start from their high school at 9:55 and meet at the middle of the bridge around 10. The Lewiston mascot, football cheerleaders, and soccer cheerleaders will meet EL in the middle of the bridge and bring them over to our side. The Grand Marshals will be Olympia J. Snowe, being an alumnus for EL, and representing Lewiston will be Captain Michael Mitchell, who has recently returned home from Iraq. The lead vehicle will be a National Guard Hummer with two police on motorcycles alongside it. Following will be city and school dignitaries. Confirmed so far are our two mayors and the superintendent of schools. The Lewiston High mascot and cheerleaders will fall behind them and then the color guard and band. Other organizations from within the school and community will be participating in this event, but, unfortunately, the list was not confirmed by the day of this deadline.

There has been a new competition erected between the classes at both Edward Little and Lewiston High and between the two schools floats. Each class will have a float and a panel of Lewiston people will judge Lewiston’s floats and a group of Auburn people will judge EL’s floats. The first place floats from both schools will go against each other under a different panel of judges to determine which is the best. There will be a traveling trophy for whichever school wins the contest. There will also be a competition between the two Alumni associations, who will be selling T-shirts, to see who sells the most. The money that they raise will go toward scholarships.

The route of the parade first begins from the Platz Associates parking lot, with Edward Little fans, as their marching units will parade down Court Street and over the Longley Bridge, only to be intercepted by the Blue Devils. The Lewiston units will then lead the parade, with Edward Little units following, up Main Street to Sabattus Street to Webster Street to East Avenue, taking the first entrance – Tennis Court side – into the Lewiston High School complex. The group is expected to arrive at the high school around 11:30. Since the game doesn’t start till 1 on the Don Roux Field, a tailgate party will be accepted. However, there is to be no alcohol, because there will be minors present and it will be on school property. There will be a pro-game show, which, as usual, involves recognizing the senior football and cheerleaders from both sides, but the two mayors will also speak and the Grand Marshals will be recognized. Also, the winners of the float competition will be announced, and awards will be given to the best float of each school and the best between the two. The color guard for the Maine Army National Guard will also be in the pre-game show. If we can finalize it, there will be one parachuter dressed like EL’s “Red Eddie Ghosts” and like Lewiston’s “Blue Devil,” who will descend for the coin toss. If not, the EL and LHS mascots will go to the middle of the field, one with the football and the other with the coin. Lewiston has a bugle player this year, so they will be doing the national anthem before the game. The half-time show will consist of recognizing all the past football players who have participated in past games, celebrating the rivalry between EL and LHS. Tickets are $2 for students and elderly and $3 for adults.

The Edward Little High School and Lewiston High School rivalry has been ranked the second highest in the state, according to the Portland Telegram. It is a long held tradition, started in 1897. The themes for the event are creativity, fun, and spirit. We owe a big thanks to Mr. Bouchles for organizing this whole gala. Many hours of work by a huge number of people went into this, and I hope the result shows how wonderful this idea has become.