Promptly at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2, the Manhasset Homecoming Parade appeared on Colonial Parkway, led, as usual, by the officers of Manhasset American Legion Post #304 and its Auxiliary. The elementary schools were represented as was CASA, but it was the high school class floats that everyone was waiting for. Scorning false modesty, the Class of 2008 proclaimed, "We're not just good, we're great," as they tossed candy to the onlookers. They were followed by the sophomores who took advantage of their year, 2007, to choose a James Bond '007 theme. The Class of 2006 used their rhyme with Olympics to feature an international theme with flags of many nations. But it was the seniors, Class of 2005, who invited everyone to "Take a Deep Sea Dive with 2005" and won the competition.

The football team had a great first half against last year's champions, Roosevelt, but Roosevelt came back to win. The fans, and it was a great homecoming crowd, were thrilled with the new surface on Ed Walsh Field. Thanks to the efforts of the Booster Club and Manhasset resident Boomer Esiason, a FieldTurf representative who convinced the company to give the school district a discount on the price of the surface, the team met its opponents on a beautifully manicured field which could easily have passed for real grass.

Concerned about the condition of the high school's football field, the Booster Club approached the Manhasset Board of Education last school year to discuss replacing it with a state--of-the-art synthetic field surface. In the present economic climate and with the substantial cost of the purchase and installation of such a surface, the board determined it could not replace the field. Undeterred, the booster Club under its president, Andy Palmedo, raised enough money to cover the purchase and installation of the FieldTurf and offered it to the board, which gladly accepted this generous gift on behalf of the school district.