Parade Notes

31 items – Last updated 3/22/2025

1) 4 City Trucks parked in from of the floats in G (Grand Marshal, O’Shea, Coffey, St Andrews, Chatham Marching band )….when asked to moved…they told me No–we aren’t going anywhere, your parade will have to go around us. That intersection was all misaligned, and I did not make his rudeness a priority, especially since public was watching.

2) 4 volunteers said they had 10 + people asked where their group is..the responsibility of the person picking up the packet, should be to pre-plan with their group where to meet. The packet-holder has all the location information.

3) As the LAST entry left “F” lot (Rescue Squad) … to begin their parade walk… I counted 14 cars PARKED in F lot. (I will let the Clydesdale horse trailer slide…but the others weren’t supposed to be there. At least when last entry was still leaving).

4) What to Volunteers do when it’s over? Have a coordinated End plan to gather and leave at same time together. Turn in Vests, take in short comments, etc.

5) Volunteer suggested we tell Section “F” Lot Drivers that are in the Front of each column ….be told what entry they Follow..and its not the entry next to them. Then they won’t start driving forward too soon.

6) Packet Pick up does not need to check in unless they can’t find their spot

7)No official Bus drop off..so the North side of museum has a bus drop-off side median. Then after drop off..we need reserved somewhere that the bus can park.

8) No more walk up volunteers. They are on their phones, not trained, and not into it as those that signed up early and wanted to be here. We do not have their Contact info to contact them and ask for next year.

9) Lead volunteers report direct to section “A.”
8:30am setup police correctly so the parade can get started correctly (all police parked 6 across and willy-nilly where-ever they wanted. ) Could not move cars into their spots because no room to maneuver.

10) ALL entries must register! Even the free-be’s This allows us to find out how many vehicles & people for Section “A”..that can place in 1 “spot” or over multiple “Spots” if they have many vehicles.

11) Need to have a space in middle to separate Section “A” cars from Left side from Right side.
“A” has 8 spots on map..19 entries were assigned there. Need to update graphic to show volunteer where 9-19 go…rather than assigning 2 or 3 entries to same spot.

12) Define what a “Spot” is. It should be length of a 1 truck with 1 trailer. If they have more,,,then assign them to multiple Spots. Remember they do not pay for “Spots”, they are paying just to participate)

13) LIBERTY BAND..NO SHOW..Do we have a rule on that? Should we follow up to see what happened to the No Shows?

14) B1 & 2 across from each other..should be inline. (going back to defining “Spot”

15) Volunteer to be a Vendor Liason dedicated to that group. Signup, answer questions, check electrical needs, be there to greet and direct.

16) Formal volunteer training before parade day. Can be in person, or by Video) CBT- Computer Based Training

17) Committee photographer- videographer.

18) Need YouTube channel for event videos, informational or training videos

19) JROTC with the Elks Flag behind.in front of the Mayor….not the military.

20) Volunteer float (Was filled with walk-ups, Little room for the pre-sign ups, returning, or Lead Volunteer. Suggest rules that Volunteers need to walk, unless they pre-signup, then that is a perk to be on the trailer.

21) Need something to get around in. An admin Golf Cart maybe. I had 2 volunteers run the 2 Canvas wraps over to the Reviewing stand.

22) Vests were a HUGE HIT!

23) I will get the bundle of 20+ walkies talkies for myself (Same as the ones Deb supplied) by next year…and donate them for use for our event and offer them to be borrowed to Fat Ass 5k planning board (from the St Patrick’s Planning Board) (Since my niece is on that board)

24) New Sign up options other than Charity, Commercial, Political. Add:
“Government Agency” for agencies with no Elected official ex: ALPLM
“Family or Friends” – Just want to be in parade for fun, ex Ryan Family

25) Leave a year-round open signup for Volunteers on the website.

26) Float Judges need to take a photo of the winners for the web site after the parade. I have to search Facebook to copy off pictures to put on our site.

27) More porta potties in Section F (Horace Mann) & E (Jefferson) , there were only 2

28) I re-created Section “E”‘s numbering graphic on our web page. Need to fix the other streets… so they are more clear.

29) Create a Public Feedback page that people can go to and rate various aspects of the parade from 1 – 10 “Shamrocks.”

30) Influence more actual “Floats” The Judges expressed it was ‘slim pickens’ for judging. Although 105 entries…just a handful of viable choices to judge. A lot of “Just Walkers”..or just a single car with a sign. More floats would be nice.

31) Made Parade emails to separate tasks to Board or volunteers, that when an email comes across…you will know what it is for. These all can have either @stpatsdayparade.com or @SpringfieldIrish.org they all point get to the same place.