Pascack Valley to host third annual Homecoming BBQ
PV administrators Mr. John Puccio (left) and Mr. Tom DeMaio (right) grill at last year’s homecoming barbeque.
Pascack Valley’s third annual homecoming barbeque, organized by the homecoming committee, will take place on Sat. October 29. It will happen before, during, and after the football game against Cliffside Park, lasting from 11:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the barbeque is $10 for adults and students and $5 for children 10 and under. Tickets are available for pre-order online.
Homecoming is an event for more than just students, as everyone in the community is encouraged to attend. The event was created to bring together past, present, and future students and faculty of Pascack Valley. Everyone is invited to socialize, eat barbeque, and play games. Among this year’s events will be cornhole, KanJam, a bounce house, face painting, and a volleyball game. Attendees can also dress in costume for a chance to win the costume contest or participate in a hot dog eating contest.
For a school such as PV with such a great history and tradition, for us not to have a homecoming, we thought was such a shame.
— Shawn Buchanan
Pascack Valley did not have any homecoming activities until about two years ago. The homecoming committee was created by Tina Marchiano and Shawn Buchanan, both of whom still help coordinate the event today along with the students. The idea was originally mentioned in a conversation between Marchiano and Buchanan. Both faculty members attended Big Ten schools whose campus life was centered around football, thus inspiring them to create a homecoming at PV.
“For a school such as PV with such a great history and tradition,” Buchanan said, “for us not to have a homecoming, we thought was such a shame.”
The homecoming committee chose to put a unique and nontraditional twist to homecoming by creating a barbeque rather than the typical dance. The idea of teachers grilling and students playing games developed into Pascack Valley’s very own version of homecoming, showing the strong school pride of students, faculty, parents, and siblings.
Both Marciano and Buchanan recall that the first homecoming had an enormous turnout of students, partly due to the amount of time and effort the students and faculty invested in organizing the first homecoming.
“We just figured it would be a nice event to have the option for these people to come back and meet people from all different years at PV,” Marchiano said.
The event has since increased in popularity and the committee has gradually planned more activities as time went on.
“[Homecoming] is a nice way to bring back people, bring in future people, and join together the PV community,” senior Chloe Witt said.
