Innumerable amounts of time, effort and resources toward a project intended to help students build custom floats to bring life back to the Veishea parade are on the line as plans to proceed with the Veishea Float Building Project have been postponed until further notice due to Veishea cancellation.

“I think it’s just really sad that we have to close down the parade, not even for weather complications, it’s from our own doing,” said Lauren Haylock sophomore in integrated studio arts and Veishea Float Building Project designer.

The Final Hours of the Float Building Project were set to take place on the night of Thursday, April 10^th. There were plans to order pizza, have a DJ play music, and get help from Veishea executive members and anyone who was willing.

“It’s just really disappointing, a lot of people have spent a lot of time to make Veishea a good experience for everyone,” said Haylock.

Haylock was getting ready to work on the floats in the Agriculture Pavilion with a few other people when they got the news of Veishea’s cancellation from Leath’s press conference.

Groups began physically assembling their floats after they received their materials on Tuesday, April 8^th.  

Lambert said most groups were using the traditionally used materials such as wood, chicken wire and colored tissue paper but some groups were also using paint and foam board.

“After that first day we said okay we’re going to have to work but it’s going to be awesome because it’s going to make a big impact on the parade and create a really good outlook on Veishea,” said Haylock.

Ethan Lambert, senior in animal science and Veishea parade co-chair said that Haylock was the only person to volunteer to design two separate floats, the floats for the College of Agriculture and the College of Life Sciences.

“I have been meeting weekly with the organizations to make sure we have the ideas finalized to represent the groups to the best of our abilities,” said Haylock.

Haylock said she decided to volunteer for two floats because she wasn’t too busy with classes this half of the semester and thought this would be a good way to get design experience while creating something meaningful.

“I love design and art and this was a way to volunteer and help out in a creative way to make an effort to bring people together,” said Haylock.

Since Veishea began in 1922, the parade has played a major role in the weeklong celebration. Parade entry types range from balloons, bands, performances, specialty units and floats.

“It’s tradition. Floats have always been in the parade but they’ve slowly dwindled away,” said Lambert.

Lambert said he feels that not as many people have been participating because they don’t like all the floats with the business advertisements and did not have the knowledge or resources to make a float of their own.

“Now we’re giving them the materials, we’re subsidizing the costs and we’re giving them a main goal to build a float that will make a better parade,” said Lambert.

The parade co-chairs have been working for months to generate a way for organizations to have the opportunity to create a captivating float that creatively represents the organization, said Lambert.