The annual homecoming parade on Saturday embraced the theme of ‘Made in the ’80s’ by including floats with students portraying bands such as Aerosmith and even Union President Ethan Clay dressed as Michael Jackson.

Clay, along with many other Boston University students, decorated and rode on eight floats and 14 golf carts representing some of the schools and organizations at BU. The parade proceeded down Commonwealth Avenue as hundreds of students and parents looked on.

The event began on Friday evening when student organizations began building their floats. Kerriann Murray, a College of Communication senior, participated in the parade and said she was glad to see so many students come out to participate in float building, as well as attend the parade.

‘I was surprised [at the turnout],’ Murray said. ‘I saw a lot of people out here with their parents.’

Murray’s float, sponsored by the Interfraternity-Sorority Council (IFSC), won the award for best overall float.

‘I was really proud that we won,’ Murray said. ‘No one complained. They were all there until 3 a.m.’

‘This homecoming parade showed what BU can do,’ she said. ‘Sometimes people say that this school doesn’t have any school spirit, but if you were at float building last night, you would have seen that they were wrong.’

Michelle Moses, a COM junior, said she was very excited about winning the best overall float award, and said the IFSC put a lot of hard work into building the float.

Hall Oster, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, participated on the float, and kept in his ’80s character while commenting on the award.

‘It’s so rad, we’re totally psyched,’ he said.

The IFSC float’s theme consisted of a mix of ’80s pop culture, and students dressed up like such ’80s icons as rap group Run-DMC and Steven Tyler from Aerosmith.

Other awards were presented for the best floats and golf carts in the categories of most spirited, best application of the theme and most dedicated.

The School of Management won the award for most spirited for its float, which featured a wall of newspapers, a bull, and a painted stock ticker.

The stock ticker included stocks for both Boston College and Enron. The ticker claimed that BC’s stocks fell several points, while Enron simply had a question mark next to it. Pam Ariyakulkan, a SMG junior, said the theme was based on the idea of a bull market, which had occurred during the ’80s.

Heather Neumann, an SMG senior, was excited about winning most-spirited float, and said she was glad the students could keep up the school’s award-winning tradition.

‘It was the [best] thing ever,’ Neumann said. ‘We’ve won most spirited five years in a row.’

The riders on the SMG float were not shy as to telling spectators what the school did for them, as they chanted ‘What do we do … take money!’ as well as other slogans throughout the parade.

The School of Hospitality Administration’s float used the television show ‘Cheers’ as the theme for its golf cart. SHA won the award for best use of theme for a golf cart.

This was the second year in a row in which SHA won an award for its cart in the homecoming parade. The school has also won an award every year for the last five years in various categories.

The award for ‘best use of the theme’ went to the School of Education, whose float’s theme was based on the television show ‘Reading Rainbow,’ while the ‘most dedicated’ award went to the Student Union’s float, which was based on Michael Jackson’s music video for ‘Thriller.’

While schools like SMG, SED, and SHA won awards for their floats and carts, other schools did not fare as well. One such school included the School of Engineering, which took home no awards for its float, which included a cutout of the Karate Kid, a three-dimensional DeLorean, and a girl in a bikini.

‘We got shafted,’ said Rob Osterhoudt, an ENG junior. ‘Everybody said we deserved an award.’

During the parade some of the students on the floats threw candy to the crowd as they passed.

‘We got lots of candy,’ said Susan Milano, the mother of a BU student.

Milano’s only complaint with having a pocketbook full of candy was that having the candy thrown at her was dangerous, she said.

‘We got really, really, really pegged.’

Liz Annino, an SHA junior and co-chair for the parade, said the turnout for both float building and the parade was great this year.

‘It was a pretty good crowd,’ she said. ‘It seems to be getting more popular every year.’

Annino’s mother, Seba, who has been coming to the homecoming parade since 2000, said this year’s parade was much better than in previous years.

‘There didn’t seem to be any spirit in 2000,’ she said. ‘I was really impressed this year. There was a lot of hard student work.’