Families and friends lounged on the Mall and children took their places on the curbs, waiting for one thing Saturday afternoon ÷ the annual Homecoming Parade.

The smell of barbeque and the sound of disc jockey mixes within the cluster of Mall tents ushered in the 74th Homecoming Parade.

According to Angie Kebric, Bobcats Senior Honorary Homecoming awards chair, 32 floats participated, in addition to the cars and other non-float parade entries.

The hour-long parade circled the UA Mall and began a few hours before the Homecoming game.

Sitting in the shade with his wife, 1962 alum Lee Thompson, said this was his first time watching a Homecoming parade. Thompson said he does not remember the UA having a parade when he was in school.

"If they did, it was awfully short," Thompson said.

Payton Hermanson, 8, sat on a curb with her friend Tara Blank, 9, waiting for the parade to start.

Hermanson said she did not know what to expect from the parade because she recently moved to Tucson. Her mother, Gail Miller, is a student at the UA.

"Parades are usually different," Hermanson said. "I usually like the floats. They have all that cool stuff on them."

"I like the drums," Blank added.

Wilma and Wilbur Wildcat led the parade, waving to the crowd atop a helmet-shaped vehicle.

Christopher Taylor, pharmacy professor and parade judge, said he has been a Homecoming judge since 1993.

The criteria for judging the floats this year were spirit, entertainment and overall presentation, Taylor said. He and other judges took a preview tour of the floats before the parade began. "There were some clever ones," he said.

Rick and Loretta Wolf, two new judges, were talked into judging the parade by their daughter, Kristin, a Bobcat member.

"It's kind of fun," Loretta said. "Everyone is so enthusiastic it makes it interesting."

Floats, convertibles and marchers filed past the judge stand in front of the Main Library. Those on the floats shouted their loudest to impress judges for the many parade awards. Campus floats were eligible for first, second and third-place cash prizes. Other campus groups vied for the Wildcat Most Spirited Award and the Bobcats' Most Entertaining Award, both of which had first and second placements.

The UA Marching Band played tunes as they marched past onlookers. Past Homecoming queens waved from the back seats of donated convertibles.

This year's Homecoming king David Baker, a management information systems senior, queen Katy Simmons, a senior majoring in Spanish, also greeted those watching the parade.

Gray-haired members of the 1953 and 1963 football team nodded and waved to the crowds.

Floats included Theta Tau's over-sized Wilma and Wilbur whipping the reins on a mushing "husky."

FIJIs float depicted a wildcat dumping one-gallon cans of red and blue paint onto the head of yet another victimized "husky."

After the last vehicle had filed by the judges' stand, judge Liz Kebric said the parade was amazing.

"I didn't expect that much work and detail in the floats," she said.

Theta Tau took first place for best overall float and won a $200 cash prize, said Angie Kebric, a history senior. Other winners were not tallied yet and will be announced later this week.

"This year the floats were a lot better," Angie Kebric said. "Usually Theta Tau's stands out because it is an engineering fraternity. This year they stood out, but a lot of other floats stood out too."