The Greatest Homecoming On Earth, the homecoming for North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University has been cancelled for 2020, with the exception of the football game.
All the in-person events of homecoming at North Carolina A&T State University, which was scheduled for the week of Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, has been canceled because of the COVID-19 crisis.
The Greatest Homecoming On Earth attracts A&T alumni from all over the country to Greensboro and the A&T campus for a full week of festivities.
Although it is a big blow to NC A&T to cancel homecoming, it is also yet another blow to the hospitality industry in Greensboro. During the week of A&T’s homecoming, which features among many other events the homecoming parade on Saturday morning before the afternoon football game, the hotels, motels and restaurants in Greensboro are filled with A&T alumni.
It is not called the Greatest Homecoming On Earth without reason; the weekend of A&T homecoming there is more traffic in downtown Greensboro at midnight than at the 5 o’clock rush hour.
The press release from A&T states, “The weeklong celebration traditionally draws total attendance of more than 100,000 to its long schedule of events, and has an economic impact estimated by local municipal officials of more than $10 million on the Greensboro economy, with visitors coming in from across the state and around the country.”
The press release states that the university “is carefully considering other opportunities for virtual celebrations, none has been solidified at this moment.”
Associate Vice Chancellor for Alumni Relations Teresa Davis said, “Although we are deeply disappointed we will not be able to honor this highly-anticipated tradition, we believe if we make the necessary sacrifices now, we hope to be able to see everyone next year, with even more anticipation, excitement and enthusiasm.”
I’ve been to one of this things, and it was great. I don’t think the College will ever be able to return to the excitement of this event. The final destruction of what was a vibrant inner city is the culprit. We all lose.
1st! It is an HBCU homecoming…you know when colleges Celebrate their University, we just Celebrate a little bigger because we are 1 of the top HBCU’s in the country! 2nd…speak for yourself! We are still doing great things,so we lose nothing. We are Aggies!