In my Town of Barrhead council story about the Blue Heron Fair Days parade, I start off by saying everyone loves a parade. And I believe that is true.
However, as the story goes on to say, not everyone is happy with the route. In this case, he unhappy ones are the residents of Barrhead Continuing Care Centre and Shepherds Care.
But as someone who has been involved in staging parades, I was ecstatic when the powers that be decided to change the route.
That’s for one very big reason, and that is safety — not only for the audience and participants, but for the volunteers and parade marshals.
As many of our readers are aware, in my past life as an amateur radio operator, I have been involved in many parades and as a casual observer, what I have seen during the various parades has concerned me.
Obviously, as a ham, my first question I ask the organizer of any event is what type of communication system they use. Whenever I asked someone involved in any of the parades in town this question, the answer I usually receive is nothing or cellphones.
In my mind this is inadequate.
There has to be some way for parade marshals to communicate with each other to deal with potential problems. As well, the system has to be open, so that leaves cellphones out.
Every person on the system needs to hear, in real-time, about potential safety issues so they have an opportunity to intervene.
What happens if a volunteer notices a barricade(s) on the parade route is missing? Is there any way to stop the parade until the issue is rectified? Without an open communication system, this is difficult and the problem only gets harder the longer the parade route is.
Then there is the problem of crossing Highway 33. From my past experience with the Fallen Four Marathon in Whitecourt, anyone who wants to stage an event that takes place or crosses a highway needs to have the approval of Alberta Transportation, something that from what I’m told can be a painstaking process. Then there is the whole question of how parade participants are going to get across the highway. For liability’s sake, this means certified flaggers, which come with a cost.
So while I sympathize with the seniors who live in the care facilities at the north end of town, the better decision was to shorten the parade with the majority of the route going through downtown core.
