JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Nicki Pfefferle grew up in Ann Arbor, attended Dexter High School and Eastern Michigan University, and now lives in Whitehouse, Ohio.

Yet as she strolled along the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville Friday afternoon, she couldn’t help but feel like she was home for the holidays.

Pfefferle’s step-father, Jon Falk, is the Michigan football team’s equipment manager. From 1987 through the Wolverines’ last bowl appearance following the 2007 season, the family spent the holidays in warm-weather locations.

“This is Christmas to me,” Pfefferle said amid the crowds and noise at the Gator Bowl parade. “Florida, California, whatever. This is normal. Being in Michigan the last couple years was not normal to me.”

Nearby, Bob and Carol Kerr of Shelby Township leaned against the boardwalk while the Michigan marching band turned the corner at Newnan and Coastline in front of them.

Bob Kerr, a 30-year season ticket holder at Michigan Stadium, says he’s hoping the Wolverines can keep his perfect bowl record intact. He’s made three other bowl trips, watching the Wolverines win two Rose Bowls (1993 and 1998) and the 2000 Orange Bowl.

As Kerr speaks, The Victors is overwhelmed by the ringing of cowbells. The surrounding Mississippi State fans - they outnumbered Michigan fans by a 4-to-1 margin along the parade route - had spotted the Bulldog band headed their way.

Cowbells are more plentiful on the streets of Jacksonville this week than the dairy farms of Wisconsin. Bulldog fans clang them to cheer, to greet each other, or for no reason at all.

“Too many cowbells,” Michigan fan Adam Scheinman says with a laugh. “I’m going to be haunted for the rest of my years by cowbells.”

Scheinman moved to Ann Arbor in 1969 - arriving along with Bo Schembechler, he points out - and left after third grade. But he’s remained a Wolverines’ fan and raised his son, Nathaniel, in the same mold.

“I lived there for four years, a very impressionable time, and grew up believing that everything ran through Bo Schembechler and the Michigan football program,” Scheinman said. “And I stuck with it when I moved out.”

Mark Ammon isn’t having the same luck with his young sons. A Brighton native and Michigan fan now living in Jacksonville, Ammon brought 9-year-old Brayden and 5-year-old Drew to the riverfront to expose them to the maize-and-blue culture.

Brayden left still a fan of the Florida Gators.

Kathy Parker, a 1993 Michigan graduate living in Atlanta, is happy to be wearing her maize-and-blue gear at a bowl game again. Last year, she found herself wearing purple and cheering for the Wildcats.

She and her husband, Kevin, a Georgia fan, attended the Outback Bowl. Kathy cheered for the Big Ten representative, Northwestern, while Kevin rooted for Auburn of the SEC.

(Note: Kevin was wearing a Michigan cap Friday.)

“It’s great to be back at a bowl game,” said Kathy Parker, who has attended five Rose Bowls. I’m actually upset that my family didn’t come, that more Michigan people didn’t come. We haven’t been in a bowl game in a couple years.”