The legendary event-filled Homecoming Week has rocketed into our calendars even sooner this year than others. The week famous for inspiring school pride is resting on the fourth week of the year, as opposed to the later dates usually dedicated to the festivities.

The theme this year will be “Midnight in Paris,” continuing the aura of romance from last year’s “To the Moon and Back” theme.

No doubt the most colorful and exuberant aspect of this week is the Chrysanthemums (usually shortened to simply “mums”) students wear, as per Homecoming tradition. Like every year, the color and design of the mums will serve as the distinction between the grades, with freshman and sophomore students wearing blue and gold, juniors wearing silver and white, and seniors wearing gold and white.

Mums aren’t the only way to express Homecoming pride, though. T-shirts, emblazoned with this year’s theme, will be sold at all lunches along with the tickets, which both cost $15.

Even though the dance is definitely the height of the week, the first event will be the Homecoming Parade, which will be on Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 7 P.M. The parade will start on Warner-Smith Boulevard and finish in the athletic parking lot. The first pep rally of the week will follow the parade at 7:30 P.M. on the football field.

The celebrations really get started on Friday, Sept. 12, when the two final pep rallies (one at 1:15 P.M. to 1:45 P.M. and the last at 2:00 P.M. to 2:30 P.M.) will lead into the Homecoming football game later that day, where Ranch will play Cy Lakes at 7 P.M. at the Berry Center.

At halftime, the Homecoming Queen and King will be announced.

Homecoming week will sizzle to a close on Saturday, Sept. 13 when the Homecoming Dance signals the end of the exuberant week. The dance will be at Cy Ranch, and will go from 8 to 11 P.M. Along with being height of the week, the dance will announce rest of the Homecoming Court.

As they say in Paris, amuse-toi bien.