Making Lemonade – How We Had a Successful Parade During a Pandemic

By Julie Machon

While we traditionally celebrate Independence Day with a main street patriotic parade, this year proved to be challenging. Instead of holding a parade with units slowly driving down Montgomery Road, this year, we brainstormed and came up with something a little different. We called it a “Reverse Parade”. The idea is parade units would be stationary in our local high school’s parking lot, and motorists would drive through to observe our Independence Day Parade. It was an idea I had when I was working from home while on a Stay at Home order from our Governor. The brainstorm was a result of the threat of it being canceled by the pandemic.

Photo by Fred Haaser

What Is It?

Here is how we set up our “Reverse Parade”. We assigned the parade units their own space in the parking lot. Spectators stayed in their vehicles and weaved up and down the aisles, and no foot traffic was allowed. Parade units were limited to no more than ten people, distancing themselves from each other within the unit and from other units, and units could not hand out anything.

This “Reverse Parade” had not been done before in our city, and we were not aware of any others doing it. It took some time to explain the concept of it to staff and the parade units. I brought it up first during a Zoom meeting. Zoom meetings can be awkward already, and after describing the idea, there was silence, which felt like several minutes. I am lucky because our senior leadership is incredibly supportive, and they are always open to new ideas.

I explained this new concept to a past parade unit participant, and he paused and said, “Reverse Parade…. does this mean I drive backward?” I laughed and told him that I always knew I liked him!

Who Are We?

Our City of Montgomery, Ohio, is a small suburban Cincinnati community of about 10,000, and our Independence Day Parade has been going on for decades. It is a long tradition celebrating hometown, Americana. There are just two of us in Recreation, and we are a part of the Public Works Department, a much bigger group that is always helpful and willing to assist. For this event, we leaned on them heavily to assist with planning and implementing.

Photo by Fred Haaser

How Did We Do It?

We started by surveying past parade units and asking them if they would even be interested in participating in a parade during a pandemic. If they were interested in participating, we followed up with more questions. We asked if they would be willing to be restricted to 10 or fewer people in their group and if they would want to participate as a stationary unit in a Reverse Parade. We were pleasantly surprised by the results! Parade units wanted to do something, too, so we continued to plan.

Photo by Fred Haaser

I drafted out a list of parade units and added entertainment. We initially had 30 units and ended with 50 units. We knew we needed more to make this entertaining. We contacted the Cincinnati Circus Company and asked the owner what ideas he had. I have worked with him for over ten years, and I know he thinks big, which we like, and he described jugglers, fire jugglers, a bubble machine, Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam stilt walkers, an aerial act and a “wheel of death”. Wheel of death? The “wheel of death” is the big ball that the entertainer walks inside of as it spins around. He had us at “Wheel of Death!”

Photo by Fred Haaser

I loved his ideas and was determined to implement his ideas and sought sponsorships. We usually have an annual Independence Day Festival, and we already had a sponsor secured for that event. I contacted that sponsor to see if they would switch to this new event since we were not able to have the festival due to the mass gathering guidelines. We were so happy that our sponsor not only agreed to sponsor, but they had a wonderful unit in the parade, complete with a balloon arch over an antique car. In full disclosure, the sponsorship did not cover the fee for all the circus entertainers, but this is where the City’s financial support comes in to cover the cost. We were spending just a small fraction of what we typically expense for our summer events, so we had leadership’s support to continue.

Photo by Fred Haaser

My supervisor is an engineer who is known for loving maps, and he helped us create the layout and design of the event at the high school parking lot. There are two big parking lots at the high school that are connected by a road. He strategically designed it to have spectators enter one lot and staged the vehicles in long rows to get cars off the road and avoid traffic backups. We stationed the parade units in the other lot and planned the lineup of our units intentionally. Motorists first saw the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam stiltwalkers, who were juggling and greeting every car. These juggling giants stood in front of giant cardboard fireworks decor and banners welcoming our audience. Up next were our incredible military units, our Montgomery City Council float, our police, including our K-9 unit, and our fire department who raised their long ladder and hung a giant American flag from it. Next, motorists could see bubbles coming out of the giant bubble machine, our sponsor’s float, and an aerial acrobatics act with professionals performing high up off the ground in a hoop or silks (two long draped cloths). Motorists also saw antique cars, five DeLoreans (vehicle from the Back to the Future movie), our City’s commissions, and political units. Fifty total units participated.

And then there was signage. We had a lot of it. We had signs for spectators reminding them to stay alert, maintain a continuous speed of 2 mph, remain in their cars, and no foot traffic allowed. We inserted signs for the parade units, too, reminding them not to interact with the spectators and to maintain distance from other groups. Red, white and blue pennant flags were strung throughout the parade route. There was no question on which way the spectators needed to go. A character dressed in a “candy man costume” waved goodbye to everyone who exited.

How Did It Go?

When the parade began, the atmosphere was electric! The high energy and enthusiasm were off the charts! The turnout exceeded all our expectations. We were blown away by the number of cars that were coming through the event. It was a constant flow of traffic. There was no pause in between vehicles from the time we started until 20 minutes after the end of the event. The staging of the cars in the parking lot was brilliant, and we were thankful that part was well-planned due to the turnout. Not only was the lot full, but there was a line of cars down the road, and the wait time to get to the start ranged from 30 to 60 minutes. In just over two hours, we had 1,000 cars go through our parade.

Everyone was thanking us. Everyone. Community members decorated their vehicles. My favorite memory was seeing a young girl who was standing up through the sunroof as she held her doll, dressed in patriotic attire. We heard so many people shouting, “Happy Fourth of July!” Patriotic music was pumping from speakers at the entrance, and our council float. Our local high school band had nine members and a leader playing tunes. Vehicles were honking in a fun way showing their support.

Did the Media Come?

A couple of weeks before the event, our local National Public Radio station contacted us to do a story. Then, they contacted us again to do a national story. The media attention gave us confidence that we were on to something. In addition, a local news station asked to do a live broadcast with two remote shots during their morning show. A second local news station also attended the event, and I did a spot with them as the parade started.

In one local news clip, the reporter interviewed one of our parade units. The unit consisted of an older couple with their antique car. The couple stated that they could not be with their family at this time, and this event was a substitute for their family. I would have hugged them if I could.

Our small Montgomery, Ohio, City had also gone international! BBCnews.com noted our parade in one of their articles. We were thrilled. National Fox News contacted us to do a recap of the next day, and our mayor recalled the great turnout and our community’s enthusiasm for the event!

Photo by Fred Haaser

After the event, messages flooded our “Contact Us” page on our City’s website. Our City Hall front desk staff said that they have never had so many comments come through about anything and that they were all positive messages. We received encouraging remarks from people all over the country, congratulating us on a job well done. We also received excellent comments on our social media feeds.

A sample of those comments included:

• From Texas: “Reverse parade simply outstanding. All Americans should appreciate what your city did. Maybe there is some hope for our society. Thanks!”

• Here’s a comment I liked from a person in Arizona…who does not like snow: “Do not know the person that thought of the “Reverse Parade,” but someone should give them a giant pay raise. I keep thinking it can’t get any better, and someone proves me wrong. If I could tolerate the “White Stuff,” I would consider uprooting and moving from Arizona as you have a genuine All-American Town everyone should be proud of.

• From California directed to our Mayor: “…wanted to say thank you on the reverse parade that your city organized. Just watched your interview on FoxNews, and my family and I were laughing and applauding this wonderful “work-around” during the pandemic.”

And, my favorite comment, “Tell Julie, ‘Great idea!’ Julie earned the “Lemonade Award” for 2020, as in making lemonade when life gives you lemons.”

That is what our entire team did. We made lemonade.

Julie Machon is the Recreation Director for the City of Montgomery, Ohio, and is an IFEA Certified Festival and Events Associate. She has over 23 years of experience in the field of recreation and loves events! Julie’s supervisor calls her “Leslie Knope” from the Parks and Recreation tv show because of her positivity, high energy, enthusiasm, and her love to create new things. And, of course, Julie and City staff are now planning a drive through Halloween event!

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