Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph Hobby Lobby employee Judy Adams of Tyler works to create custom homecoming chrysanthemums during her shift Tuesday at the store in Tyler. Often shortened to just mums, the chrysanthemum tradition is an adornment worn by high school girls at the homecoming football game and dance that shows off their personalities, schools and hobbies through festive ribbons, silk flowers, stickers, feathers, stuffed animals and other trinkets.

BY DAYNA WORCHEL

dworchel@tylerpaper.com

Judy Adams, a floral designer at Hobby Lobby in Tyler, sat on a stool one afternoon this past week as she worked on one of the hundreds of homecoming mum corsages that the store sells from August until November.

Three other designers work the counter in the store’s floral department from 9 a.m. to closing time at 8 p.m. during homecoming season.

“I make about eight to 10 corsages a day when I’m really busy,” she said as she snipped ribbons and positioned small trinkets on top of a silk mum. Ms. Adams has worked as a designer for Hobby Lobby for 12 years and in the floral industry for more than 40.

The store sold more than 600 mum corsages during the fall homecoming season in 2012, store co-manager Jeremy Boyd said.

“That’s typical for us — lots of area florists buy trinkets, ribbons and other supplies, and some schools make and sell corsages,” Boyd said. The store has even had to cut off corsage orders for September for some of the larger schools in the area, he said.

From its simple start to its current impressive incarnation, the homecoming mum is just one of the things that is “bigger” in Texas, according to the Mum Shop store website. The mum, or chrysanthemum, was first grown in China about 3,500 years ago and was first introduced into the United States during colonial times, according to the website.

One of the first homecoming celebrations dates back to the University of Missouri in 1911, when Athletic Director Chester Brewer when grew concerned that fans and alumni would be confused about where to attend a much anticipated football game because of a change in location, according to several websites. He challenged to alumni to “return home” for a great celebration of parties, parades, a pep rally, and of course, the big game.

But for Southerners, especially Texans, it’s the homecoming corsage, which high school boys give to their dates, that remains the most unique symbol of that special fall football game. And those mum corsages have evolved over the years, said Sherry Walston, longtime employee of The Flower Box on South Fannin Avenue in Tyler.

“Most of the girls would like for theirs to be unique,” Ms. Walston said, adding that the trend now is for youngsters to bring in silk mums, preprinted ribbons and trinkets for the shop to put together for a corsage. She has worked at the Flower Box for 20 years and attended high school in Tyler in the late 1970s. There have been a lot of changes in homecoming corsages since then, she said.

“The flowers used to be real, and we had to hand-braid ribbons and put the school names on in glitter,” Ms. Walston said. Now, the mums are silk and the ribbons are prebraided and preprinted with school names.

Typical costs can run about $75 for a completely decorated mum with all of the decorations and trinkets, but the corsages almost are never sold for less than $50, she said.

Homecoming traditions at both Robert E. Lee and John Tyler High Schools include a “spirit week,” in which students wear crazy socks and dress in different colors.

Robert E. Lee Student Body President Tyler Jones said male students often sport decorated garters on their upper arms during the week leading to homecoming.

“The school also has a day where students wear pink T-shirts to support the fight against breast cancer, and the proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen organization,” Jones said.

Lee cheerleaders exchange mums, and the senior Southern Belles drill team members are paired with “little sisters” in which they also exchange corsages, Jones said.

John Tyler Associate Principal Vanessa Henderson, who is also a graduate of the school, said she is particularly excited about the return of a tradition — the homecoming dance on the Saturday after the homecoming game.

“Bringing back the dance is nostalgic and an exciting thing,” Ms. Henderson said.

John Tyler male students also wear homecoming garters on their upper arms, and a special pep rally is held the morning of the homecoming game, she said.