How does YOUR town do these parades ?

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JIMN
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How does YOUR town do these parades ?

Post by JIMN » Tue Dec 05, 2017 8:40 am

Memorial Day and Veterans Day where I live have become the same thing, almost the same Holiday. I guess twice a year we are supposed to, in a parade, quietly march/drive down the street to the cemetary for services, The services are meaningful, heartfelt and important for encouraging the community to take time to honor all those before us. I get it, and I mean zero disrespect to our fallen soldiers or anyone who has passed before us.

I am curious how other towns do it to keep things fresh. I understand that Memorial Day and Veterans Day are for honoring and thanking and not for entertainment, but how do other communities keep more peoples interest, and manage to keep the two Holidays from seeming identical?
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Chuck Lutz
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Re: How does YOUR town do these parades ?

Post by Chuck Lutz » Tue Dec 05, 2017 2:09 pm

i think most just have static MV related displays at the cemetery or some place and concentrate on a 4th of July and Veteran's Day parade. I quit taking the GPW to the 4th of July parade in Novato because they started charging $25 to be in it! Meanwhile, the 20 mile each way to the Petaluma Vet's Day does not charge you to be in it.

I get it...OT for cops and city workers to set barricades and notices, but the merchants do pretty good with a few thousand extra people in town for about 4 hours.

I was Course Manager for the Bay To Breakers race for years. I was responsible for the course from the START to almost the FINISH line. We cut the city in two except for a few places for a few hours....the SFPD bill came in at $115,000. Dept. of Public Works, a couple thousand sections of police barricade (private contractor), 1200 Port-O-Sans, maybe 40 of the 20-yd dumpsters, a huge labor force.....

It all adds up even with sponsorship and paying for a race bib....as for smaller towns covering the cost? That's another issue!
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Pvt TJ Maytag
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Re: How does YOUR town do these parades ?

Post by Pvt TJ Maytag » Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:01 am

here's how they did it in my town. that keeps it interesting. https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/arc ... ontroversy

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Jeeps4Brains
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Re: How does YOUR town do these parades ?

Post by Jeeps4Brains » Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:52 am

Our group of guys are spread out around the Upstate of SC near Greenville. Many of the small towns around the area have Memorial and Veterans Day parades.

But for our larger town, Greenville it has changed over time. Years ago they closed a section of Main Street for Memorial Day and we had a display of vehicles. Then they went to a parade for a few years then decided to do nothing. That didn’t go over well. Then they went back to the parade and let anyone join. So we had school bands, classic cars, bikers ….. etc, plus the Military Vehicle crowd and active Army Units. Then the complaint was the spectators along the route didn’t get a chance to really look at the vehicles. So this year we decided bypass the downtown group and go to the local downtown airport where they let us have Military equipment and vehicle displays. They did not do a parade downtown. They also brought in a National Guard unit and also some Army helicopters to display. So it was truly all military stuff.

We didn’t have a huge crowd but the folks that did come really liked it. We were approached by the bike and classic car folks that wanted to be there but we had to say no due to the limited space. Next year we plan on doing the same again. (If all the alpha dog organizers can keep from get mad at each other.)

For Veterans Day the town has had parades but for this year and last they have had an event at the downtown minor league ball field. We supply vehicles for display outside as the people go inside for a tribute concert. The first year we didn’t have a whole lot of vehicles as many of our members were off in other parades. This year the weather was crappy.
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