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Tent City is packed with both students and alumni during Friday night’s homecoming game at Natchez High School. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)

The class of 1994 hosts a 30th class reunion tent at Natchez High School’s homecoming tailgate. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)

Tent City is packed with both students and alumni during Friday night’s homecoming game at Natchez High School. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)

Class of 1990 alumni celebrate homecoming together at Tent City on Friday evening. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)

Tent City is packed with both students and alumni during Friday night’s homecoming game at Natchez High School. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)

Class of 2011 graduates Devin Hence, Desmond McGuire and 1999 graduate LaQuilla Terrell also join the party at Tent City. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)

Bulldog alumni Ashley Sproulls, Acacia Claiborne and Elicia Pendleton celebrated homecoming together at Natchez High School. Sproulls and Pendleton are Class of 2005 graduates and Claiborne is a Class of 2007 graduate. (Sabrina Robertson | The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — The homecoming game Natchez High School Bulldogs played last Friday against North Pike raked in more than $36,000 at the gate and filled Natchez with thousands of alumni from other states.

Between homecoming parade entry, gate entry and “Tent City” entry where tailgating is held, the Friday activities generated $36,172.11.

The Bulldogs entered the game with a 4-2 record, coming off a hard-fought win against Hazlehurst to end a two-game losing streak. The record-breaking attendance at Friday’s game saw the Bulldogs win 21-17 against the Jaguars.

Last year, Natchez saw revenue of $29,659.50 for the entire football season and Friday’s game more than doubled the overall revenue this season, said Tony Fields, who is Natchez Adams School District’s public engagement coordinator and interim director of student affairs.

So far with gate charges and tailgating fees, the district has seen $64,641.36 in revenue with one more home game left to play on Thursday, Nov. 7, against Brookhaven High School.

“We did a great job as a team, as a district and as a community with homecoming,” Fields said.

The success at last Friday’s game is largely due to the vast attendance at Tent City, where many alumni choose to celebrate their class reunions. This year marked a milestone for the Class of 1994, Fields’ graduating class, which celebrated its 30th class reunion during Natchez High’s homecoming celebration.

“Not only did this impact us, but this impacted the entire community,” Fields said. “There was not a hotel room to be had in town, all of the restaurants the whole weekend were packed. They ran out of food. They ran out of all kinds of things everywhere.”

However, Friday’s homecoming game attendance showed that no rounded number milestone is needed for many alumni to travel to Natchez to unite and have a good time.

For the last two or three years, the homecoming game tailgate has grown in popularity and has become a celebration of coming home for Bulldog alumni from all over.

The Class of 1990 — the first graduating class of Natchez High School when South Natchez and North Natchez combined schools because of a judge’s order to desegregate — reunited at Tent City and members reminisced the close-knit bonds they’ve forged as a class through the challenges of consolidating schools.

“When the transition happened, I became friends with a lot of people I didn’t know. I didn’t think it would work, but it absolutely did,” said Dedrick Harris, Fields’ brother and a Class of 1990 graduate.

Harris said the attendance at Friday’s game was unbelievable.

“I haven’t seen anything like this in Natchez,” he said. “It’s an unbelievable turnout. I’m seeing folks I haven’t seen in 30 years — hundreds of them. When I was in school, they didn’t have things like this. I’d like to give a shoutout to my brother Tony Fields for putting this thing together. This is tremendous and is something, I think, that can grow legs and become bigger and bigger.”

Delanius Trask, another 1990 graduate, said he drove to Natchez from Kansas for the homecoming celebration and met the younger classmen as one of the “original Bulldogs.”

“Our year was based on the movie with Denzel Washington, Remember the Titans. When we merged, the two football teams, the two basketball teams, everyone who thought they had secured a starting position as a junior going into their senior year had to replan and reposition themselves to compete for the position we had. During those years, that was a big thing for us — to start over.”

Though he was on the football team, Trask described this transition as “amazing.” 

“My class was receptive to joining the other classes from South Natchez that we knew nothing about. As a former student of North Natchez, we invited our classmates from South Natchez here to celebrate in unity. It’s a great thing,” he said.

Alumni and students filled the stadium hours before the 7 p.m. kick-off, Superintendent Zandra McDonald said Tuesday during the NASD school board meeting.

“If you passed by the complex Friday, you saw that around 4 or 4:30 p.m. the entire complex was filled with alumni and community members,” McDonald said. “We had people here from the Class of 1984, North Natchez and South Natchez Rams, Colonels, Bulldogs and I think I even saw a Tiger in the crowd. Yes, Jefferson County joined the Bulldogs at the tailgate.”

Homecoming itself also encouraged a wide attendance at Friday’s game, with an entire week of homecoming-related activities to hype it up. Throughout the week, students enjoyed themed dress-up days, pep rallies, battle of the classes and a coronation. Friday’s homecoming parade was at least “an hour and one-half long”— one of the largest ever — with a large number of cars and buses and floats showcasing the royal courts, homecoming courts, and alumni classes, McDonald said.

“It was a wonderful week in Bulldog Country,” she said while thanking administrators “for creating a wonderful experience at Natchez High School, Natchez Middle School and Natchez Early College” for homecoming week.

Planning for safe homecoming activities started in July, she added.

“We have worked with Emergency Management, local law enforcement agencies and the mayor’s office to ensure that we were able to host a family-friendly, safe homecoming experience. … I can say unequivocally that is what occurred on campus. … It was a marvelous experience, not only for the adults but also for our students.”

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