One casualty of Thursday’s cancellation of the New Iberia Senior High homecoming parade due to rain was a NISH football float scheduled to roll the day before the Yellow Jackets play Carencro.

Built from an idea that began years before this homecoming, the detailed football team float includes a lit scoreboard, a playing field populated by bears and yellow jackets, a tombstone and an enormous NISH football helmet. The float was built with the assistance of parents, players, siblings and volunteers who worked together to complete the project in time for the parade scheduled for Thursday.

“We were just finished decorating when the rain started,” said Debbie Comeaux, mother of senior offensive lineman Jacob Comeaux.

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While the rain came down, the float crew volunteers waited. Shortly before 3 p.m. they learned the parade was called off, with no word on whether it was canceled definitely or postponed. The assembled crew was disappointed.

“I’m not the only one that’s very disappointed,” said Jackie Guillotte, who along with his wife, Veronica, planned the float for years. “There are a lot of parents who helped out, and we’re all disappointed. We’re probably not even going to have a parade, but I’m not 100 percent sure. We’re waiting until further notice.”

Guillotte said the parents are not as disappointed as the senior football players, who looked forward to riding on it and participating in the parade.

About 10 people spent the past six weeks working on the detailed float, including Guillotte, his wife, other parents and their children. Guillotte said it was his wife’s dream to have this float ready for their son Aaron’s senior year, ever since he began playing PeeWee football.

Although it was Veronica Guillotte’s dream, Jackie was the designer, giving substance to her vision. The initial piece of his concept included the enormous football helmet the family had for years, which they found and had sandblasted and painted with the school’s black-and-gold colors and logo.

“Everything started piecing together when we had a meeting at the Quarterback Club,” Guillotte said. “Our theme was ‘Bury the Bears’ because we’re playing the Carencro Bears. We were going to have the tractor with dirt, and everything just sort of came from that.”