Posted by Anthony, UST Senior
Hard hats, saws, nail guns, noise complaints, saw dust, lots of coffee (some tobacco may also have been present), shouting foremen, crews working the normal business day to shame to meet deadline, an electrician, and even an on sight firefighter. Multimillion dollar construction contract in South Saint Paul? No way. Five hundred dollar construction contract in the middle of Saint Paul. More specifically, the 2009 Saint John Vianney Seminary’s homecoming float worksite.
In regards to the float contest, the seminarians have notoriously swept the homecoming “field” for as long as present memory can recall, regardless of the blue ribbon commission’s ultimate decision. A pirate ship, armed with candy lobbing cannons; a two-story castle, whose climax was a Lord-of-the-Rings styled battle between a twenty foot long dragon, his league of orcish minions and no less than forty armored knights ; and the Tommie version of the Trojan horse, which at first appeared like a slightly obtuse football—until it paused in front of the judges and (miraculously) became a football field housing a team Tommie football players.
This year was no different. The Sems warmed themselves that snowy October morning with the literally flamethrowing exhaust of their biblically proportioned Dolorian, which came complete with fully functioning, horizontally hinged doors and an endearing white haired Doc at its helm. And in tribute to the “125 Years” theme, the 125 or so seminarians that did not play main characters of the Back to the Future trilogy donned white shirts with years 1985-2009 stenciled front and back in black spray paint, and walked in single file line, thus creating wonderful visual pun.
Unfortunately, neither the time-line, nor endearing doc, nor even the hot Dolorian could secure for them the win. Apparently, despite the snow that the Sems ordered in that morning, the fire-extinguisher-bearing fire fighter, and the clearly competent scientist present (he was even wearing a white lab jacket for godsakes), the judges did not score the float well in the “safety” category. Which apparently is a scoring category.
Oh well. Maybe this year’s loss will motivate an even more massive float next year. Who knows… only time will tell.
