SDSU or USD? Universities with homecoming on same day

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – This weekend, many South Dakotans will have to choose between attending SDSU’s homecoming parade and football game or USD’s homecoming events happening on the same day.

Both games will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Brookings and Vermillion. The last time SDSU’s Hobo Days and USD’s Dakota Days overlapped was in 2018.

“There’s lots going on in South Dakota this week,” said Kari Oyen, the faculty advisor for D-Days at USD.

Brookings Police Chief Mike Drake said they coordinate with Vermillion Police, Highway Patrol and both university police departments to make sure all areas of the cities and interstate are covered during the busy weekend.

“We always make sure that our preparations and our planning coordinate with one another, whether we’re playing each other or we play differently or the events around the same weekend or not,” Drake said. “That way we’re covered with all of our assets and all of our personnel and the different technology that we use to ensure that our weekends go as safe as possible.”

Drake said that the law enforcement departments in the state often share resources and technology to help during large-scale events like the double homecoming.

“Between us and the state and the federal and the county agencies, we’re aware that it’s on the same day and sharing resources, but it’s not hampering our ability to do our job and make sure that public safety is top of mind,” Drake stressed.

He also said Brookings typically doesn’t see a reduction in crowds when the homecomings overlap, however, he said students have been known to travel between Vermillion and Brookings after the games.

“I’m sure that there are students again that just love to celebrate being from South Dakota and they love to kind of amplify friendships they have across different universities, so I’m sure that that gets impacted,” Oyen noted.

Oyen, the faculty advisor for USD’s D-Days, said the overlap may affect crowd sizes come Saturday, but participation in the D-Day parade is still the same as last year. She also hopes students, faculty and alumni will

“Especially this year, because we do know there’s lots of different things and lots of different options people have, we really wanna honor what’s important to our students, to our faculty, to our staff and to our alumni,” Oyen said. “I think how you do that is that you honor the traditions and you amplify them and you make spaces for people to feel welcome.”

USD’s homecoming theme this year is “Through the Decades,” which focuses on the traditions and history of Dakota Days. Events throughout the week include the carnival Kickoff, royalty reveal, Yote Float Fest. The parade starts at 9 a.m., tailgating goes from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the football game against Northern Iowa begins at 2 p.m.

SDSU’s theme is “Called to Wonder.” Events for Hobo Day include Bum-A-Meal, Jacks Got Talent, Rally at the Rails and BumFire. The Parade begins at 9:30 a.m. with the football game against Youngstown State starting at 2 p.m.

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