Letters: Community Parades

The community parades this past weekend were exciting to participate in and special for the community to see. Congratulations and thanks to all who participated.

My wife and I have displayed a float in the boat parade for several years. This year, our float was top heavy and tipped over before it was off the dock. The result is that we were finally able to watch both parades as spectators. From these observations, I would like to offer some thoughts.

The Golf Cart Parade is growing exponentially with approximately 120 participants this year. It’s well organized and collects toys for its chosen charity. We sat in our golf cart at the corner of Vacation Dr. and Canyon Lake Dr. Spectators are invited to attend the awards ceremony at Holiday Harbor and encouraged to contribute a toy to the drive. From our vantage point, I believe this parade needs more security. Automobile traffic should probably be diverted from the actual route while the parade is in progress. Mixing road traffic with the streaming golf carts and spectators, including children, in the dark is an accident in waiting.

The Parade of Lights is magnificent and especially colorful when reflecting off the water. I’m surprised that we don’t have more participation and encourage more golf cart decorators to participate on the water also. The Golf Cart Parade spectators and participants donate toys to charity. Houses around the water that invite guests to view the boat parade should request their guests to do likewise. This might be an added incentive to generate greater participation.

Finally, I wonder if we would get more participants in both events if there was time to adapt the displays from the boat to golf cart or vice versa by separating the events by a week.

Again, thanks for the great shows.

Ted Horton