This year Iowa State will be having its 89th VEISHEA Parade. The parade will be hosting 100 different entries, put together by different students organizations, fraternities/sororities, community members and local businesses.

“The VEISHEA Parade is always a favorite for students, alumni and community members. The parade has changed over the years but is still a great opportunity for all student organizations to showcase their group,” said Annie Olson, senior in math and VEISHEA Parade chairman. “We have a lot of groups this year that have been participating in the VEISHEA Parade for many years.”

The majority of the entries are student organizations and local businesses. The different entries include balloons, bands, traditional floats, non-traditional floats, performances and specialty units.

This year there are two floats in the “traditional” category. A budget to build a traditional float can be up to $10,000, and they take a lot of time to prepare and build. Members of the greek community are building both of the traditional floats in the parade this year. Delta Tau Delta, Delta Delta Delta and Pi Beta Phi are one of the pairings that will be taking on the challenge of creating a traditional float completely from scratch.

“Working on the VEISHEA float is a very long process, we usually have [chairpersons] elected in January and are drawing up ideas and fundraising from day one,” said Nathan Easley, VEISHEA float chairman for Delta Tau Delta Fraternity.

Delta Tau Delta has been participating and creating traditional floats for the VEISHEA Parade for many years. The house has been recognized for their efforts many times by winning the first place trophy for the last 20 years. Creating a VEISHEA Parade float is a longstanding tradition for Delta Tau Delta and its members.

The fraternity is able to participate with help from different businesses who donate to their efforts.

“The completion of the VEISHEA parade is very big for our house and we love doing it. We hope businesses will continue supporting us and keep our tradition running strong,” Easley said.

This year the fraternity will be putting in hundreds of hours of work on a traditional float with their pairing and keep their tradition alive. The traditional floats take a lot of time and money to put together but they are continually a crowd favorite for the VEISHEA Parade.

“We have many groups entering traditional and non-traditional floats as well as bands, performance units, and balloons giving the parade the diversity we strive for,” Olson said.