Tweaks Suggested For Next Year’s July 4 Parade

CHATHAM – With next year marking the nation’s 250th anniversary, the organizers of the town’s Independence Day parade are considering some changes to accommodate what they anticipate will be larger-than-usual crowds.

Among the changes discussed by the Independence Day parade committee Sept. 10 were altering the parade route and eliminating all parking in the downtown area.

Considered the event that kicks off the summer season, the July 4 parade attracts as many as 30,000 people, according to estimates by police. Next year is not only the country’s 250th anniversary, July 4 also falls on a Saturday, which will likely mean even more people attending.

Most people crowd into the downtown area, between Shore Road, where the parade begins, and the downtown rotary. 

Until a few years ago, the parade ended at the traffic lights at Crowell Road and Main Street. It was extended down Crowell Road, first to Tip Cart Road and then last year to Lake Street.

But there have been concerns with the extended route, including the ability of larger floats to navigate the corner at Crowell Road.

 “It’s not an easy turn to make,” said chair Steve DeBoer.

Committee members were amenable to altering the route so that it turned right at the rotary and followed Old Harbor Road, perhaps back as far as Shore Road. The road is largely residential, but there are several viewing areas that could accommodate a number of people, noted DeBoer, including the Chatham Filling Station parking area, the Masonic Lodge, Holy Redeemer Church and the town-owned property at 127 Old Harbor Rd.

 “There’s a lot of places where people can sort of congregate,” he said.

Parking along Main Street may be a more problematic issue. Currently, parking is prohibited along the south side of Main Street but allowed on the north side from Chatham Bars Avenue to the rotary. Eliminating the north side parking would improve safety and allow more people to view the parade from that side of the street, committee members said.

 “It’s a big safety thing,” noted committee member Susan Wegner.

Prohibiting parking on the north side of Main Street has been brought up numerous times in the past decade, said Police Chief Michael Anderson. “It’s a longstanding tradition” among some residents, whose families sit in the back of pickup trucks to view the parade.

That’s changed in recent years, he said, with many people parking on the north side of the street so they don’t have to carry chairs downtown. Rather than using the vehicle as a “box seat,” they’re setting up chairs around them. The vehicles then block the view of the parade for anyone on the sidewalk.

Both Anderson and Lt. Sarah Harris backed eliminating the parking.

 “It’s going to be an unpopular proposal, but unfortunately that’s the world we live in,” Anderson said.

 “There are a lot of security and safety issues that we put in the hands of fate that we’d like to keep better control of” by having no vehicles parked on Main Street during the parade, he added.

The change would have to be approved by the select board, which sets no parking zones for the parade.

The committee also discussed changing the start time of the parade from 9:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Most parade participants are lined up by then and spend a half an hour waiting for the event to begin, said Harris.

Anderson said he would review the suggestions with his department and with the fire department. The committee will continue the discussions on Oct. 15.