Planning for the Flandreau Fliers Homecoming 2020 is underway, with royalty candidates chosen and students ready for dress-up days.
Homecoming festivities are scheduled for Sept. 21-25, but specific plans for coronation, a parade, a pep rally and other details were to be decided by the school board Monday night, after the Enterprise deadline.
The homecoming theme is “One for the Books,” with storybooks being a central part of the idea. Dress-up days for the high school are Monday: Favorite book character, Tuesday: Cowboy day, Wednesday: Bedtime stories (pajamas), Thursday: Prom day (vintage or last year’s attire that students didn’t get to wear), and Friday: Purple and gold.
Royalty candidates this year include king candidates Colton Pulscher, Braden Peters, Gage Gullickson, Dalyn Ukestine and Lars Dailey. Queen candidates are Whitley Olinger, Alison Rice, Macy Kneebone, Cassidy Keith and Libby Hursey.

Some of the homecoming activities might be virtual.
The student council made recommendations for the school board to consider, including pre-recorded skits for Little Orpheum, live streaming coronation, videos introducing candidates, admission for only high school students and those with tickets, games outside on Friday and only high school students attending a pep rally at the football stadium, if the weather is good, with everyone wearing masks.
As for a parade, the students recommended a mini parade around the school with participants being the royalty and the sports teams. Classes would take turns watching outside and cheering them on.
The Fliers volleyball team plays McCook Central/Montrose on Tuesday in Flandreau and Dell Rapids on Thursday in Dell Rapids. Cross Country runners have a meet Wednesday in Dell Rapids. The homecoming football game is at 7 p.m. Friday against Bridgewater-Emery/Ethan.
Planning for homecoming events is difficult, Superintendent Rick Weber said. The school won’t have a dance, for instance, and other events may look different, while continuing to follow the school’s protections that are in place to guard against any spread of COVID-19.
The district has had one high school and one middle school student test positive for COVID-19, along with one high school staff member and one elementary staff member. The middle school student is considered recovered, and school has been fully open with normal precautions during the time that positive cases have been identified.
“We want everything, but we want to do our due diligence and make sure we’re doing the correct things,” Weber said of homecoming. In these times, even royalty candidates have to follow rules that apply to anytime somebody is in the school.
“They’re going to be wearing masks,” Weber said.