Clad in blue and gold, students, staff and alumni of Edison High School lined the streets of Jackson Square Park in northeast Minneapolis. A celebration of this school's centennial was underway.
The Edison crowds were greeted by two marching bands, a lineup of classic cars and a robotic T-shirt cannon wheeling down the street.
The community came together for the 100-year milestone during their homecoming week. Alumni from as far back as the class of 1951 and current students gathered to march in a parade around the neighborhood. It followed the school's first pep rally since 2019.
"We're trying to bring the culture back," Edison teacher Mike Iacarella said. As he looked over the crowd of students in the gymnasium, he said that the COVID-19 pandemic had deprived most underclassmen of the pep rally experience.
Edison's homecoming royalty members were center stage at the rally. They played a game of musical chairs that brought screams from classmates as they cheered them on. The school's mascot, Tommie, was there in an Edison football jersey.
Outside the booming gymnasium, the chair of the Edison High School Hall of Fame, John Banisky, was sorting through dusty golden plaques in the lobby. Each of the 150 plaques is dedicated to a member of the Hall of Fame. Banisky was pulling out plaques for the members who were in attendance Friday.
"People ask why our Hall of Fame doesn't have a lot of pros or a lot of major college athletes," Banisky said. "This is a working neighborhood. A lot of these athletes just went to work right away after high school. It's a different game for a different part of town."
One alum is Dick Alberico from the class of 1952. He met his wife at Edison; they married in 1955. He came to collect his plaque, and took a photo of the football team he was a part of while he was a student.
The Northeast neighborhood that surrounds Edison includes families of "Tommies" who have attended for generations, fostering a strong sense of community between students and alumni.
Sarah Larson, a member of the alumni marching band, said her grandma was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Her nephew was also in the parade Friday.
"We have four generations at this high school," Larson said. "It's an incredible community, that it's been around this long and people are willing to come back and be a part of it."
