Daily Collegian - Organizations discard float fragments

After weeks of careful construction, Homecoming floats will soon become little more than a memory - a heap of chicken wire and shreds of colorful pomp.

"It was definitely worth it," said Greg Martz, Homecoming chair for Beta Theta Pi fraternity, 220 N. Burrowes St. The fraternity's float, complete with a life size Mystery Machine and Scooby Doo, sat in the front lawn of the fraternity for most of the weekend.

"I'm surprised it made it through the weekend with all the alumni," Martz said. However, parts of the float were destroyed Friday night amid Homecoming celebrations.

Kelly Steve (freshman-business administration), a pledge at Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, 10 Wolf - the sorority that worked on the Scooby float with Beta Theta Pi - added additional insight into the life of the float.

Early Saturday morning, she said, Scooby Doo was stolen off the float from the front lawn. Although the thieves have not been identified, the float builders seem not to be harping on the loss.

"It wasn't a tragedy because everyone's been trashing each other's (floats) and even their own," Steve said.

Paul Pinkerton (senior-geological science), a member of Theta Xi fraternity, 425 Locust Lane, said their float was doomed to a similar fate.

"We're probably going to trash it. There's not much else you an do with it," he said. Theta Xi's unicorn and jousted Boilermaker will be thrown away. The fraternity will keep some of the lumber, Pinkerton said. "Pomps, unfortunately, are not reusable," he said.

Destruction of Homecoming floats by alumni is a tradition, said Pete Timer (junior-business logistics), a member of Theta Chi fraternity, 523 S. Allen St. He said alumni had a good time destroying it.

"The wood we're breaking up for firewood for the end of the year," Timer said, adding that the rest will be collected from the front lawn and thrown away.

The life of a winning float is not much different. Mike Lutz (senior-animal biological science), a member of Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity, 328 E. Foster Ave., said their first place Mickey Mouse float was trashed. It was too hard to save it. And besides, he said, the floats get wrecked anyway.