Why Not Hold Parades?

A long way back I used to run an occasional series where I’d simply ask the question: Why Not? Like, “Why Not Have a Waterfront Ice Skating Rink?” (that one actually partially led to the creation of the rink we still have). With Fourth of July later this week, I’d like to re-run my call for our own holiday parade, if not exactly a July Fourth one. What do you think?:

As part of my occasional Why Not series, today I ponder this: Why Not hold parades in Georgetown?

This thought occurred to me when I took in the Alexandria Scottish Christmas parade in Old Town last December. This parade–along with the equally Celtic St. Patrick’s Day Parade–always brings the best out of the Alexandria community. The route is lined, often several rows deep, with cheerful residents and visitors. The homeowners get into the spirit by decorating their houses with the St. Andrews flag and donning kilts. And following the parade, the shops are mobbed with people eager to knock a few names off their Christmas gift list.

The parades always leave me a little bittersweet. Does Georgetown lack the sort of community spirit that Old Town has? Or does it lack the opportunity to express it?

What I particularly like about the Old Town parade is that it spends most of its route winding through the quaint residential streets. Perhaps that’s why the residents get so into it, they’ve got no choice.

So why not bring that opportunity to Georgetown with a parade of its own?

For it to be a true community event, I think they would also have to wind their way through the sidestreets. This has the added benefit of not requiring the closure of arteries like M St. or Wisconsin Ave.

The Old Town parade last year was just .9 miles. I figure Georgetown need not be quite as long (at least not at first). Here’s a simple route I mocked up:

The parade would start at Visitation, in order to use the parking lot to stage the floats and bands, etc. The route would go down 35th to Prospect, over to 34th, up to O St. There it would wind it’s way down to Hyde-Addison, where the parade would end at the playground.

I asked around and could identify only one community parade in recent memory. In 2001, there was a parade to celebrate the neighborhood’s 150th250th anniversary. This parade, however shut down at least Wisconsin Ave.

Lots of boring questions come to mind, like how to organize it and how to address complaints about parking etc. But a more fun question pushes those aside: what should the parade be about? Christmas, St. Patrick’s and the Fourth of July already have stiff competition, so those wouldn’t be a good idea.

But how about Halloween? Georgetowners have been getting more and more into Halloween in recent years. It used to be just Nancy Taylor Bubes going over the top, but now she’s got plenty of company. So the spirit is already there. And the parade could include neighborhood kids showing off their costumes. There could even be a Halloween party at Hyde at the end! This is a better idea the more I think about it.

So what say you: why not?