Planning Parades

A big part of my job for the last several years has been planning my City’s local parades. Believe it or not, there is no handbook for a job like this. It’s something you have to learn by doing. For example, don’t put a drum line and a group of horses behind one another in a parade line up- the horses will get spooked. Don’t place a walking group behind a car club- they’ll inhale exhaust all night long and will be miserable. It’s these little things that I have had to troubleshoot over the years that really make parades fun to organize. It’s like putting together a puzzle each time.

Parades are funny things. People love them. They turn up hours before the start to get “good seats” and to visit with each other. They involve all kinds of community members who would not normally interact with each other (when’s the last time you saw the middle school karate team hanging out with the therapeutic horse riding club? Or the home school youth group chatting with the high school band?). Parades bring out the silliness in all of us- I dare you not to smile as a large balloon shaped like a cat bounces down the street.

There is a magic to these community events. There’s something special about seeing everyone come together to celebrate the town together, rain or shine. These events are free and inclusive and fun...that’s pretty hard to beat.

This week will bring our community’s annual Christmas celebration, Victorian Christmas. It’s a goofy mash-up of Victorian history and modern holiday traditions that brings thousands of people to our tiny downtown. This event is wickedly difficult to plan, with lots of ins and outs and logistics to paw through. Last year, while I was taping down extension cords on my hands and knees at the Santa photo area, a child ran up behind me, gasped and whispered: “They got the real Santa!” Moments like this always make any amount of work worth it.

The next time there’s a community event in your neighborhood, break out the lawn chair and join in the fun. You won’t regret it.