Christmas parade has new route

By LISA HOBBS

The Santa Claus float traditionally brings an end to the annual Christmas parade. This is the Santa float from last year’s parade which turned at Regions Bank on Main Street.

Leadership Warren announced a new route for the 2007 Christmas Parade, as well as its decision to step down as the oversight organization for future parades, at Tuesday night’s McMinnville Safety Committee meeting.

This year’s theme will be ‘Celebrating Our Bicentennial Christmas.’ The parade is Saturday, Dec. 1 and will begin at 2:30 p.m.

The route, referred to as new, creative and innovative, will exclude the traditional starting and ending point of McMinnville Civic Center.

‘Several of us met and tried to work out a route that would address the issues of safety and not going all the way through downtown,’ said Leadership Warren member Larry Flatt.

Line-up for the parade will be at the Farmers Market, along a sectioned off piece of Colville Street directly behind the market and, if necessary, city hall.

The parade will begin at the intersection of Market and Colville streets. From there, the parade will run toward Beersheba Highway and turn left onto E. Main Street.

It will go between the two high-rise towers and proceed down the full length of Main Street going the opposite direction of normal traffic. The parade will turn right to travel in front of Hardee’s and turn right again onto Morford. The parade will travel down Morford against the normal flow of traffic before ending at Sparta Street.

Although backwards from years past, this new route allows the end of Main Street to be part of the parade without the narrow turn from Main onto Sparta. Other advantages include the use of 11 less police officers to cover the event, and giving residents at Beersheba Heights and Spangler Tower a chance to enjoy the parade.

There are some issues with the new route that the organization thinks can be overcome. For one, the center divider on Main Street that limits traffic to one lane onto Sparta and E. Main Streets will present a new problem. It is only 12 feet wide.

Those walking in lines, such as the band and JROTC, will have to break rank at that point and reassemble on the other side. No problem is expected with floats and vehicles.

Secondly, an issue with McMinnville Fire Department on Main Street will have to be addressed. Emergency vehicles will have to moved during the duration of the parade because they need to be accessible if an emergency occurs. Currently, there is no location chosen.

Thirdly, because the line-up area and route are new, more volunteers will be needed than ever before. Leadership Warren is asking for volunteers to help coordinate the three line-up sections and make sure every entry gets where it needs to be when the parade begins.

Adding to the need for volunteers is the parade’s involvement with the Bicentennial Celebration of Warren County. Organizers would like to have 200 entries, one for each year of the bicentennial, even if that is two people walking in period costume, cars or floats. More volunteers will be needed to coordinate that many entries.

Registration dates, times and rules will be made available next week, as some have changed, but the one regarding candy has not. Candy cannot be thrown from floats. However, six people per entry, up from last year’s four, will be allowed to hand out candy.

Want more candy? McMinnville city administrator David Rutherford has been working with two or three groups regarding candy stations. The stations will have Santa elves, in costumes, handing out candy along the parade route.

Last but not least, Leadership Warren presented the city with a letter officially handing over the coordinating reins for future parades.

‘We’ve worked hard to have a safe and productive Christmas Parade,’ said Flatt. ‘We feel that it is time to give it up to somebody who has better ideas. Not that we aren’t going to work, but we are asking for a little sabbatical.’

Officials accepted the route Tuesday evening and thanked Leadership Warren members for all the hard work they have done, not only on this parade but previous parades.

‘I just want to thank Leadership Warren for all the years you have done this service,’ said Mayor Royce Davenport. ‘It has been a service to the whole community. It is part of our holiday season and there is more work to it than anybody knows unless you’ve done it. I appreciate you doing it so well and giving us advance notice.’

For more information about the parade, or to volunteer, call the parade hotline at 815-3030.