Big Changes In Store For July 4 Parade

CHATHAM – With the nation celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, bigger crowds than usual are expected for the town’s Independence Day parade. However, it won’t be the same July 4 parade folks are accustomed to.

Three major changes are in store for the event, which typically attracts about 30,000 spectators: the start time, the route, and parking along Main Street.

On Tuesday the select board ratified plans approved by the Independence Day parade committee to move the start time of the event to 9 a.m. For many years, the parade has begun at 9:30 a.m. The route will also be altered, with the parade turning down Old Harbor Road at the downtown rotary rather than continuing along Main Street and turning at Crowell Road. And finally, the long tradition of vehicles being allowed to park on the north side of Main Street from the rotary to Chatham Bars Avenue will end, and no vehicles will be allowed to park anywhere along the parade route.

That final change was made to improve the safety and security of the event, given the times in which we live, said Police Chief Michael Anderson. He ran down a number of tragedies that have happened at large public events which the parade could be vulnerable to, such as vehicles driving into crowds.

“This is not a topic I take lightly,” he said during Tuesday’s select board meeting. “The July 4 parade route this year will be a tow zone from start to finish.”

While some board members worried about eliminating some of the longtime parade traditions, parade committee chair Steve DeBoer said that the parade has evolved over time, with changes made to the route as recently as last year. The new route will take the parade up Old Harbor Road to Barcliff Avenue, at which time participants can head toward Shore Road, where the parade is staged, or toward the Monomoy Middle School, where many participants park, or continue on Route 28. DeBoer said the change will shorten the parade’s 1.5-mile route by just one-tenth of a mile, and the smaller footprint will help police better manage traffic both before and after the event.

The area from the rotary to the Crowell Road lights and from Crowell Road to Tip Cart Road (last year the parade ended at Lake Street, which wasn’t as successful, DeBoer said) hosts a large number of people, and board members worried that the stretch of Old Harbor Road from the rotary to Barcliff Avenue won’t be able to accommodate the same numbers.

“For literally thousands of people, it’s not going to be the same,” said board member Shareen Davis, noting that there are many commercial properties along the original route while the new route is largely residential. “It seems like it’s a significant, almost cultural change.”

Police Lt. Sarah Harris said Crowell Road is a difficult corner for the parade to turn, and there’s a safety issue with the large crowd there. That’s also a traffic choke point and has to be closed down prior to the parade and remain closed afterwards. With the new route, the intersection can remain open, which officials hope will ease post-parade traffic.

DeBoer said tightening up the route will also eliminate gaps in the parade, which sometimes cause watchers to leave thinking the parade is over. The hope, he added, is that some of the spectators will move further east on Main Street, closer to the parade starting point at the corner of Shore Road, where there are usually fewer people, he said.

Davis abstained from the vote on the route change, but the other four board members supported it.

“Bottom line is we’re going to have a lot of people in town this year” for the parade, said board member Cory Metters. “This does have a little better layout to help crowd control and traffic patterns.”

In past years, vehicles parked along one side of Main Street were mainly pickup trucks from which families watched the parade. In more recent years, Anderson said, he’s noticed more passenger vehicles parked along the route, with people using them to store chairs and coolers for use during the parade. Those vehicles obstruct the view of the parade from the sidewalk for others and are often parked unattended overnight prior to the parade. As police chief, he said, he has the authority to prohibit all parking along Main Street and planned to do so this year, although he sought the select board’s endorsement. 

Potential hazards of vehicles parked along the parade route include vehicles being able to drive into the parade or into the crowd of pedestrians that typically floods Main Street at the tail end of the parade, he said. Last year, public safety officials increased security along the route by parking large vehicles in intersections to block access to the parade route, opened an emergency operations command post and used drones to monitor the route. 

Anderson said he’s shopped the parade safety plan to other police departments of similar size, and he consistently gets a negative reaction to allowing vehicles to park along the route.

“Every other police department that reads that thinks we’re insane,” he said. DeBoer added that removing the vehicles will also free up space for spectators displaced by the route change.

Resident James Conway said that having his kids watch the parade from his pickup keeps them safe, but he acknowledged Anderson’s concerns.

“It’s too bad this is the world we live in,” Conway said.

Board member Stuart Smith said he thinks that the safety and security argument is overused in some situations. “This is not one of them,” he said, adding his endorsement to the board’s unanimous vote to back Anderson and ban all vehicles along the parade route.

The change in the time of the parade start didn’t engender much discussion. Many people already arrive early, Harris noted. DeBoer said with the 9 a.m. start time, the parade will end earlier, allowing participants and spectators to have more holiday time with family and friends.