For more than six months, plans for Homecoming 2000 have been built and tweaked to help captivate students, community and alumni.

Now, MSU is ready to celebrate.

The theme “Champions 2000” reflects the success of the last year and the hope for more in the future, particularly during the Homecoming football game Saturday against the University of Wisconsin Badgers.

Keith Williams, executive director of the MSU Alumni Association and a co-chairman of the Homecoming committee, said the week is always fun-filled.

“We have raised Homecoming to a new level where it’s very popular,” he said. “We’ve put a lot of energy into creating an event people can participate in. There has been so much planned to attract alumni back to the campus and to make them want to come back.”

The Homecoming Parade will be at 6 p.m. Friday and will travel along Abbott Road, Grand River Avenue and Bogue Street. The Spartan Marching Band, MSU cheerleaders and floats designed by MSU students and organizations will be featured in the parade.

There will also be several special guests, including MSU President M. Peter McPherson, his wife Joanne McPherson and Grand Marshal Tom Izzo - who’s renowned as the men’s head basketball coach.

The parade will close with fireworks and a performance by the band at IM Sports-East.

Mechanical engineering senior Mike Hurd has been playing the trumpet with the Spartan Marching Band for five years, and said Homecoming is a lot of work for the student groups that participate.

But it’s worth it.

“I think (Homecoming) has gotten bigger,” he said. “We don’t get to see the parade, but the crowd along the parade route has gotten larger. We can see that.”

There’s more to do Friday night too.

After the parade, there will be a pep rally for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. “The Main Event,” the first night the teams are allowed to practice, begins at 10:15 p.m. at the Breslin Student Events Center. Admission is free, and those attending will be able to snag autographs and win prizes.

Homecoming week will also include a history lesson.

The Tower Guard, a service-oriented organization, will give tours of Beaumont Tower on Saturday from 9 a.m. until the game begins at noon. Once the game ends, tours will be offered until 5 p.m.

Doughnuts and cider will be served in the morning, and the Tower Guard will accept donations for the MSU Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities.

Other popular events like the third annual Super Bowl Sundae ice cream social, the Spartan Spectacular concert, the lighting of Hubbard Hall to say “Go MSU” and the ASMSU Homecoming Ball are all on the list of scheduled events.

To view times and events taking place throughout the week, go to www.homecoming.msu.edu.

The week has become a popular one for students like Hurd, who concedes he’ll be sad to leave MSU.

“I’ll miss (Homecoming week) when I’m not in the band,” Hurd said. “But it will be nice to come back and be on the other side.”