Pop culture icons like Joe Millionaire, American Idol and the Crocodile Hunter appear regularly on campus, if only on the TV screen. But this Friday they’ll breeze down Sheridan Road for the Northwestern Homecoming Parade.

To celebrate the homecoming of various NU alumni, 25 floats are scheduled to participate in the parade competition. The homecoming committee chose “The Real Northwestern” as this year’s theme, playing upon the popular genre of reality television.

“The committee tries to pick something that’s going on in our culture today or that might be interesting or appealing to students,” said Tom Bull, assistant director of careers and student services at the Northwestern Alumni Association.

Each float in the parade depicts a specific reality show, from “Joe Millionaire” to “American Idol.”

“We just thought the reality-TV fad is a theme that can be easily incorporated or parodied,” said Communication senior Cara Bottjen of the homecoming committee.

Alpha Delta Pi, Chi Phi and the Evans Scholars certainly took the parody route with their “Survivor”-themed float, placing imaginary contestants at NU during the brutal winter months.

“It will be a bit chilly as opposed to other tropical-themed survivors,” mused Alissa Rademacher of ADPi. “We’re also throwing in a bit of football flavor with the Wildcats verses the Badgers. Of course the Wildcats will be better off.”

Rademacher said it would be nice to win the competition but she is happy with just getting to know people from other Greek organizations while working on the float.

“We started building the float the second week of school,” said Rademacher, a Communication senior. “The activity of building it is the fun part.”

Another reality show to serve as a theme will be “COPS.” Delta Delta Delta and Chi Psi Lodge are combining forces to create a float with female cops disciplining male criminals. Stephanie Paul, Tri-Delt’s activities chair, said there will even be a jail cell aboard the float.

“We’re trying to go all out,” said Paul, a Communication sophomore. “We’ve been doing things non-stop. Classes have become kind of secondary.”

The competition will be judged by three NU professors, and floats must be physically made by the groups that entered them in order to compete. This disqualifies floats for the alumni classes, the School of Communication, which is celebrating its 125th anniversary by leading off the parade, the NAA, and the Northwestern Class Alliance, all of which were professionally made.

Floats certainly don’t come cheap, whether made professionally or by hand — which is why most groups team up to pool their funds. For those students who wish to participate but don’t have the resources to put together an entire float, Tom Bull said anyone can be in the parade by walking or carrying a banner. This is a popular choice among residential colleges like Shepard, as well as larger groups such as Dance Marathon. DM has built a float in the past, but outreach co-chair Cathy Larkin says a banner was more accommodating for the group this year.

“We felt it would be a better use of our money without spending it all on the float and instead giving some money directly to our charity, HAve Dreams,” said Larkin, a Medill senior. “We’re sure the homecoming parade will be a great opportunity to get the name of our charity out there.”

In addition to the various floats, parade-goers can also expect performances by the NU Marching Band, as well as two high school bands and the NU Alumni band. The parade route will run down Sheridan Road, starting at the Alumni House at 8 p.m. and finishing at Patten Gym. Communication sophomore Lauren Rosen, NCA vice president, said she thinks the closing of Sheridan helps draw a larger crowd.

“When the largest street in the town is closed off, (Evanston residents) are inclined to see what’s going on,” Rosen said.

“There are always a lot of kids and family at the parade,” said NCA president Ronnie Rios. “They know the parade exists and a lot of times we throw out candy and necklaces. I think it attracts a lot of people from the community.”

Residents often come with their children to see the floats, but Tom Bull thinks Evanston could go a step further.

“Stores could probably partner with one of the groups on campus and sponsor them,” Bull said. “It would be a true partnership with the community.”

Traditionally the parade is primarily organized by the NAA, but this may change next year. Both the NAA and NCA have discussed the possibility of the NCA taking on a larger role in next year’s festivities.

“It seems that homecoming is much more alumni focused,” said Rios, a Weinberg senior. “Students don’t feel that homecoming is for them and we want to change that.”

The NAA had approached the NCA in the past about organizing the parade, but the group declined the offer because they were too busy with other activities, said Tom Bull. But this year they agreed to supervise — which would include regulating when floats depart down the street — and decide afterwards if this was something they would like to do.

“We want students to have a more active role (in organizing) so students know we are targeting them,” Rios said.