A time-enduring tradition that is as much a part of Kingston, Ont., as the limestone is Queen’s University homecoming weekend.
“Yeah, this is gonna be my first HOCO, I’m really excited actually,” says first-year engineering student Marcus Dandrade.
This year’s festivities will be taking place the weekend of Oct. 28.
Streets are sure to be filled with students, and often guests from other cities.
Meanwhile, on the busy streets of Queen’s campus, students are already thinking about the big weekend.
“Just gonna hang out, have some friends up probably for the weekend,” says fifth-year commerce student Wil Brawn. “Throw down, party a bit.”
“I’m just gonna get involved by the mass and just follow the flow,” says MBA exchange student Federico Furnari.
For some students, this will be their first experience with Queen’s homecoming.
“I’ve heard that it sometimes gets out of hand I think, I’ve heard that on the news,” says first-year student Gabriel Hull.
“I’ve heard it’s pretty awesome,” Ryan Morrell, a first-year engineering student says. “People come back every year to celebrate, have a good time on the weekend.”
Esan Vivegananthan says he’s expecting something big, marking his first year at Queen’s.
“I’ve heard that Queen’s has a really good HOCO, so I’m expecting, like, a nice, pretty big block party or something like that,” Vivegananthan says.
Soon enough, the streets that are usually reserved for driving and walking will be filled to the brim with partygoers from first year all the way to fifth year.
As of yet, Queen’s doesn’t have a football game scheduled for the weekend, but it could still be happening depending on how the OUA playoff picture shakes out.
Representatives of both Queen’s University and the Kingston Police were unavailable for comment, but both say that more information is coming next week.