The traditions at El Paso High are never taken lightly. The homecoming parade is one tradition usually followed by Eve of the E, but not this year.

The Parade was supposed to take place on Thursday Sept. 20. Everyone from Football to JROTC march in this homecoming tradition, but the parade was postponed due to the weather conditions that El Paso is not accustomed to and will now take place on Oct. 11.

On Thursday morning, our Student Activities Manager, Lindie Serna, heard the news that a flash flood warning had been posted for the area right around the route for the parade. Around lunch all students marching in the parade started to gather in the parking lot to decorate their floats.

Minutes later, little rain droplets started to fall from the sky and started washing away much of the painted decorations on the cars. El Paso wasn’t ready for that much rain. Many students started becoming concerned with the status of the parade and much of the student body looked to Mrs. Serna for advice on the matter.

“It’s a huge function. It’s not the school’s alone. It involved the city, police, fire department, and it involves the Sun Metro bus system,” Mrs. Serna said.

The conclusion made by faculty and administration was to wait out the rain and keep trying to march, but the decision was far from theirs to make. The El Paso Police Department called off the parade at approximately 3:30 p.m., due to the road conditions of the route. Two of the streets on the route were flooded and the others were far too slippery to proceed. Many people were surprised to hear the police get involved in our small parade.

The EPPD allowed the school to move the one-mile parade to Oct. 11, a day before of the claw game against Austin. Still people began to fret the outcome of Eve of the E now that the parade had been postponed.

“It’s a tradition to do the parade and walk in to celebrate the seniors,” said, senior cheerleader, Leila Santa Cruz.

Even though the parade was postponed the seniors weren’t going to let a little rain stop them from making the memories that would last a lifetime. The students didn’t want to let this tradition be changed, after all the school is built on traditions. Through rain or nice weather everyone pushed through and Eve of the E was a go.

It’s the first senior activity of the year for EPHS. The event is to celebrate the beginning of the senior’s last year of high school. Artificial candles in paper bags light up the field as the stadium lights turn off. As they count down from 19, because they are the class of 2019, the anticipation builds up for everyone and the seniors run onto the field, with music of their choice playing in the background. The sight of all the seniors running around the field was heartwarming.

“We are going to tie the parade into the claw game since the game is also a big tradition at El Paso High School, so we are trying to start a new tradition for future generations,” Student Council President, Sebastian Moreno said.