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An image of the 2025 University of Arizona Homecoming Queen and King facing the Bonfire at Homecoming. They are both wearing their royalty crowns.

Homecoming

Homecoming isn’t just a chance for alumni to come back and visit campus; it’s an opportunity to reconnect with the places and faces that have shaped us, and maybe even make a few new friends along the way. Every institution does it a little differently. Here’s a little of what makes ours ours. 

An image of the Bobcat Senior Honorary, a University of Arizona student group, facing "A" Mountain. They light the "A" every year at Homecoming.

Homecoming kicks off with the lighting of “A” Mountain, a tradition that goes back to the mid-1960s, when a group of fraternity brothers arranged hundreds of lightbulbs along 700 feet of electrical cord, keeping the mountain lit with a portable generator for nearly five hours. Now it’s lit with road flares by the Bobcat Senior Honorary, a group that has been stewarding campus traditions since 1922.

An image of a University of Arizona superfan posing for photo at the Wildcat for Life Tailgate. He is seen wearing a half red, half blue wig. He has red body paint with the iconic block "A" on his shirt.

In addition to the game, Homecoming is marked by a week of gatherings, activities and reunions, including a pep rally and bonfire near the Alexander Berger Memorial Fountain next to Old Main, and the Wildcat for Life Tailgate on the Mall.

A historic black-and-white image of University of Arizona cheerleaders performing on a stage at Homecoming.

The real beauty of homecoming is that it’s for all Wildcats, from students participating in Club Olympics on the Mall to reunions of the Silver and Sage Society, which celebrates alums who graduated fifty years ago or more. This is how a legacy is passed on.

TRADITIONS

'A' MOUNTAIN