10%

Alumni Parade 2024

A Bates tradition since 1914, the Alumni Parade at Reunion proves that there’s joy in emotional contagion

By Bates College

June 14^th, 2024

Great day for a parade

Psychologists call it “emotional contagion,” when powerful emotions — uplifting and happy ones at Reunion 2024 — go viral, getting shared from one person to the next.

As one psychology research paper said, it’s the “tendency to automatically mimic and synchronize expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements with those of another person’s and, consequently, to converge emotionally.”

Which aptly describes the shared enthusiasm and joy at the annual Alumni Parade, held June 8. In a nod to rain showers that came and went during the day, the parade gathered outside Commons, and from there headed to Merrill Gymnasium.

It was the first for President Garry W. Jenkins, who enthusiastically took on his role as head parade cheerleader and reviewer, later addressing the Reunion alumni at the Annual Gathering of the Alumni Association.

Interspersed with excerpts from newspaper stories about historical Bates Alumni Parades, here is our visually immersive presentation of the 2024 Reunion Alumni Parade.

Parade Prep

“At 9:30 comes the Alumni Parade, of which it is expected to make quite a feature. The Brigade Band will lead the procession, and the alumni will march by classes to Garcelon Field, where the classes may put on their stunts. The Bates College Store is well supplied with hats, whistles, balloons, banners, and other equipment for costumes.”

— The Lewiston Daily Sun, June 18, 1921

Parade Lineup

“A varied procession it was indeed, the classes all carrying their standards. The members of the different classes were careless about their dress. They wore all sorts of cone-shaped headgear. They bedecked themselves with brilliant colored streamers, which they wound around them in an ostentatious manner.”

— Lewiston Evening Journal, June 11, 1955

Parade Launch

“There were horns, cowbells, tin cans, whistles, and all sorts of caterwauling. Every time anything unusual happened — it might be dropping a handkerchief or meeting a team — they piped up with a deafening, clangorous hullabaloo. Everyone was happy, tremendously full of the dickens.”

— Lewiston Evening Journal, June 21, 1921

Hellos, High Fives, and Hugs

“All alumni present will assemble at the corner of Campus and College. Headed by the Edward Little High School band, they are to march diagonally across campus to Hathorn Hall, where they will be reviewed by the president and trustees of the college.”

— The Bates Student, June 10, 1949

‘Full of the dickens’

“There were horns, cowbells, tin cans, whistles, and all sorts of caterwauling. Every time anything unusual happened — it might be dropping a handkerchief or meeting a team — they piped up with a deafening, clangorous hullabaloo. Everyone was happy, tremendously full of the dickens.”

— Lewiston Evening Journal, June 21, 1921

Parade Faces

“This is to be an historico-humorous parade of the classes about the field, with ‘stunts’ by the different classes following. Historical incidents associated with the development of Bates, illustrated soberly or unsoberly, ‘things you did,’ wise or otherwise, will all be eligible to place in the parade.”

— The Bates Student, May 14, 1914, describing plans for the first Alumni Parade at Reunion

The Annual Gathering of the Alumni Association

During the gathering of the Bates Alumni Association following the parade, President Garry W. Jenkins offered the traditional Presidential Address, his first as president.

“Thank you for being here and listening,” he said in his conclusion. “Thanks for your warm welcome into the Bates community. And thanks for your engagement, your generosity, and your loyal support of Bates.”

The Presidential Address

After the parade, six Bates alumni were recognized for their contributions to Bates and the wider world — in fields and endeavors including emergency medicine, applied psychology, and financial services — during the Annual Gathering of the Bates College Alumni Association.

“We are incredibly proud to honor these outstanding alumni for their distinct accomplishments and important work for Bates and beyond,” said Kevin Moore ’93, president of the Bates Alumni Association.

“Their commitment to service, excellence, and social responsibility embodies the spirit of Bates, and we are grateful for their continued dedication to the Bates community.”

Footnotes

Produced by the Bates Communications and Marketing Office with photography by Phyllis Graber Jensen, Theophil Syslo, and Rene Roy and text by Jay Burns

Button Label

FootNotes

Produced by the Bates Communications and Marketing Office with photography by Phyllis Graber Jensen, Theophil Syslo, and Rene Roy and text by Jay Burns