There is still time to enter into the Rotary 4th of July parade.
Rotary Parade Committee co-chair Joan McQuillan says that the deadline has been extended to make your entry. She says that the Rotary’s parade volunteers need to know how many floats and walkers are going to be in the parade for proper spacing, safety, and to help announcers get your group’s message out on the day of the parade. She says it also helps during line up on the day of the parade.
The theme of this year’s parade is ‘Hope Unites Us.’ Rotarians Keith and Phyllis Lape will serve as Parade Marshals. The parade route will again originate on Grand Avenue on the Morgan County Fairgrounds and head east on West State Street to Central Park, turning right and proceeding counter clockwise around Central Park Plaza, then turning right onto North Main Street. Floats and entries can disperse either north or south after completing the route. McQuillan asks spectators to be mindful of volleys fired by the color guard and to keep children out of the street as the parade passes by.
On the morning of the parade, registration begins at 8:30 a.m. and runs until 9:45 a.m. The registration entry point is on Westgate and Grandstand Road at the Northwest Gate of the Morgan County Fairgrounds. Parade lineup numbers will be assigned the day of the parade. The order of the parade line up is determined by the order in which entrants check in with registration staff; the first checked in will be the first placed.
Parade entrants can find pre-registration forms to download at jacksonvillerotary.org/independence-day-parade/. Anyone who hasn’t pre-registered by today for the parade cannot be guaranteed a place in the parade, but may be offered an opportunity to form up at the end of the parade. The deadline for pre-registering has been extended to 5:00 p.m. today.