By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Chamber of Commerce was faced with too much of a good thing when organizing this year’s holiday parade.
The Snow Globe Holiday parade attracted more entries for units than could traverse down Main Street with everyone getting through the Four Corners by noon.
The parade begins this Saturday, Nov. 23, at 9:50 a.m. with the BG Police stepping off onto North Main Street. The first units with the first units scheduled to arrive at the Four Corners at 10 a.m.
That’s where the WTOL broadcast booth is set up for the live broadcast from 10 a.m. to noon.
But the number of organizations wanting to participate this year exceeded the number that could be accommodated within that two-hour span.
“This year, the response to the parade was truly overwhelming, particularly from the bands,” the chamber reported in a press release issued in response to a request by BG Independent.
[Chamber explains logistics behind holiday parade]
Eleven bands, including the BG Falcon Marching Band, the second largest collegiate unit in the country, are scheduled to perform.
“In total, we have 90 units registered, including 11 bands, 19 floats, 11 performing groups and vehicles. Over 2000 people will be on foot the distance of the parade,” the chamber reports.
Though the deadline to register was Nov. 1, by Oct. 17, the organizers had reached capacity and spread the word.
That left some would-be participants in a lurch.
To accommodate those, it was decided that some units would be placed after the float with Santa Claus, the traditional end point of the parade.
“All units were given precedence in order of when their online registration was received,” the chamber stated.
This didn’t sit well with Nicholas Mowen whose son receives services from the Wood County Board of Developmental Disabilities, one of the seven units assigned to the back of the parade.
In a letter to the editor, he said, the unit was essentially being excluded by its placement after the Santa Claus float. At that point the parade is over, he said.
“Removing the Board from the parade sends the wrong message — not just to individuals with disabilities, but to all residents,” he wrote. “It suggests that their contributions are less meaningful or not as worthy of celebration, which contradicts the values our city has long claimed to uphold. Holiday parades should be about community and coming together, and this decision does the exact opposite by alienating an important — and all too frequently overlooked and marginalized — segment of our population.”
Asked about the unit’s placement in the parade Superintendent Brent Baer of the Board of Developmental Disabilities said that they had the option of marching. “We’re going to do that. … The individuals who receive services from the BDD always look forward to the annual holiday parade, and we’re very fortunate that we’re still going to that opportunity for 2024.”
Baer said they were aware of the large number of organizations wanting to participate and that the parade committee “has been working through the daunting task of getting everything organized.
Other units coming after Santa are: Bg Christian Academy, Citizens Climate Lobby, CycleWerks, Unison Health, Wood County Young Democrats, and Bowling Green Fire Division.
Also, to accommodate the large number of units, marching bands will not stop at the Four Corners and play. They have been asked to play, but to keep moving.
