The University of Missouri held the first homecoming festivities in 1911 to boost attendance at a football game held in a new venue. The university enticed 9,000 alumni to "return home" and attend the game. Over time, the festivities grew to include parades, bonfires and the crowning of a homecoming king and queen.
A school's student body may elect the homecoming king and queen from a group of candidates in the senior class or an institution may select homecoming royalty based on the students' academic performance. Voting procedures have changed with the times, with some schools having their students cast ballots on electronic voting machines.
Some schools have decided that the traditional roles of homecoming king and queen are sexist and outmoded, choosing to select a group of seniors as a homecoming council without regard to gender. At other schools, gay and lesbian students are challenging traditional homecoming roles, campaigning for election as homecoming queens or kings, respectively.