Community Parades: Valuable Tips, Ideas and Procedures on How to Plan, Organize, Produce, Run, Stage or Start an Outstanding Community Parade

Is there an “expert” in this industry? Isn’t every parade unique? This book, the only one of its kind to focus on improving the yearly community parades, is written for anyone responsible for or part of one of the forty to fifty thousand parade committees just in the U.S alone. It is written to share parade issues, to exchange ideas and plant a few seeds. More importantly, it is to help you take your parade beyond your current imagination or expectations.Do you want to grow your parade, upscale it or polish it, make it more professional or tweak it? Is your goal to attract more volunteers, revenue and entries? With the number of parades shrinking due to financial considerations, having a better and more polished parade—year after year—will ensure you maintain or expand your entries, sponsors and spectators. Don’t wait until those numbers start falling. Now is the best time to improve your parade.In this book you’ll discover the A to Z’s of starting, running and polishing a community parade. Whether you are new to the endeavor or have been at it for a while, you will find tips, ideas and problem solvers here. Not only will your parade’s improved stature become the envy of others, you’ll be a stronger political force. Especially if you deliver a parade that includes these characteristics: •The media, community leaders, schools, clubs and businesses are involved as never before.•The entries appreciate the improved exposure it brings in the form of more business, membership and awareness. •The spectators love your parade because it’s more innovative, exciting, fun and enjoyable.•Spectators start bringing additional friends and family members to your parade in following years. •Many consider your parade to be as important as their family vacation. •It has become a tradition.•More people from outside your community start attending.•Your spectators start reserving more and more places to sit.•A spectator afterward says, “That was a real parade!” This book is not intended to be a textbook. Rather, it is designed to be an organized potpourri of useful ideas, examples, and suggestions to stimulate your creativity and encourage you to explore new ways to produce a parade.