Homecoming week will start Sunday afternoon on Capstone Drive and end Saturday on the field in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Between Sunday’s Roll Tide Run, which starts at 2 p.m. at Capstone Drive, and the Crimson Tide’s matchup in the homecoming football game, the week will offer a multitude of events for students. The events will follow the theme “Share the Pride, Celebrate the Tide.”

“When planning the week’s events, the Homecoming Committee tries to offer as many fun and diverse opportunities as possible,” SGA Homecoming Executive Director Erica Floyd said in an e-mail. “We like to continue traditional events for Alabama alumni,” she said, naming specifically the pep rally, bonfire and parade.

However, Floyd also mentioned that the SGA wanted to add new events to pique students’ interests. This year, the committee added CanFormation, an event that will bring students and campus groups together to build their own artistic displays entirely out of canned foods.

“We wanted to help organize an event that would allow us to partner directly with the Community Service Center,” she said.

After the CanFormation event is over, all canned food used will be donated to the Beat Auburn Beat Hunger campaign.

Annual events are slated for their traditional times this year. The homecoming pep rally and bonfire will be held Friday afternoon and night, respectively, and the homecoming parade will headline Saturday morning before the game.

Floyd said the homecoming queen will be announced during the Pep Rally at 7 p.m. Oct. 15. Online voting for homecoming queen candidates will be held Tuesday, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“On Saturday, the homecoming queen and the members of her court will be featured in the parade,” she said.

Former Crimson Tide football player Tyrone Prothro will serve as the parade’s Grand Marshal this year, Floyd said.

The committee chose Prothro for a few reasons, including the fact that he’s a Tuscaloosa resident, Floyd said. She also mentioned that the Homecoming Committee felt Prothro would be a good way to reach out to the younger generation of Crimson Tide fans, given his relatively recent contributions to the program.

“He’s an Alabama football hero,” she said.

The parade will also feature participating groups from across campus, like the Capstone College of Nursing.

“[We] have a tradition of not only winning the float competition, but also the Spirit Cup each year,” Nursing Ambassador President Amber-Leigh Rush said in an e-mail. “We wanted to continue our tradition again this year.

“We are working diligently to ensure that we represent our college well in the parade.”

As for events, the committee expects to entertain students. Floyd mentioned the National Pan-Hellenic Council-sponsored Step Show, scheduled for Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. in Foster Auditorium.

Homecoming Director of Reception and Halftime Festivities CadeAnn Smith agreed with Floyd.

“A lot of students are excited about the choreography contest and the step show,” she said. “People can relate to that from all areas of campus.”

Gary Fry, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, said he was looking forward to this year’s step show.

“I didn’t go last year, but of all the events, that would probably be the one I’d most likely go to. It’s just the atmosphere,” he said.

Events throughout the week include homecoming bowling and basketball tournaments, a dodgeball competition, as well as the traditional spirit-showing events like Paint the Town Red and the Banner competition.

Even as busy as homecoming week is, Smith said it is a week that can sometimes get lost among all the other dedicated weeks, but that it matters a lot to those coming home.

“Students don’t appreciate [homecoming] enough until they are alumni,” Smith said. “I don’t think you fully understand it until you come back.”