EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – What began in 2020 during the pandemic has become an annual rite of passage in Excelsior Springs.

The High School Senior Parade will take place at 5 p.m. May 10.

Graduates will don their caps and gowns and parade in decorated vehicles along a designated route in celebration of their academic achievements.

The previously random route across town has been fine-tuned to a designated route for safety and security. Staying off major highways or busy streets, this year’s route will take the seniors to the parking lots of three schools on Excelsior’s west side.

Seniors will assemble in the high school’s south parking lot. They will leave the high school, traveling down Tiger Drive to Wornall, then to Crown Hill, where they will circle the parking lot of the middle school. From there, they return to Crown Hill, turn right on Wornall to take a loop through Cornerstone Elementary’s upper parking lot before returning to the high school’s gymside parking lot.

School officials request that anyone wishing to view the parade park and assemble in one of the three school parking lots to keep streets free of congestion and traffic.