Parade Tips and Manners

To the family on vacation or at home, parades are a wonderful way to relax and entertain the children at the same time. Many families go to a parade without much thought to preparing ahead of time. Most people do not know some of the unspoken manners to follow while watching a parade. Let's begin with tips for preparing to watch a parade. You will want to obtain a copy of the parade route. Visitors can drive around the city the night before or morning of the parade and note where the no parking signs are. The local newspaper or advertising shopper will sometimes give a map of the route. You can also ask local business owners where the parade route is.

This tip comes from the years I marched in our high school's senior high band. If you want to be able to see each unit of a parade perform, your best place to sit is near the viewing platform where the decisions are made as to which band, float, or marching unit receives prizes. That is where each unit will stop and give their best performance. Sometimes this is done closer to the beginning of a parade route or before the parade even begins.

If you must drive to the parade site, take a tip from many veteran parade-watchers and put up your lawn chairs in the location in which you want to sit hours before the event begins. I remember going to a parade in Annandale, Minnesota, where people began to line the route with their lawn chairs the night before. My husband remembers his mother accidentally sitting on a person who had slept overnight on the sidewalk to reserve a spot to see the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. This may seem silly but some parades are very popular. If you have children who want to scramble for parade candy you will be thankful you heeded this tip and chose your watching location ahead of time.

Good manners suggest that you do not relocate anyone else's chairs so that you can have a better viewing spot.

Make sure your family arrives in the city where the parade is to be about half an hour to an hour ahead of time. You may be unfamiliar with the city and will need that extra time to find a parking spot and walk to the location you have selected for viewing the parade. Parking spaces will quickly fill up closer to the routes of more popular parades. If you have younger children and things to carry, you do not want to walk long distances.

Remember that many parades are held in the peak hours (10 in the morning to 4 in the late afternoon) for you or your loved ones to get sunburns. An important tip is to wear brimmed hats, bring a beach umbrella, or put on sunscreen with an SPF of more than 15. Apply that sunscreen about twenty minutes before sitting down in the sun since sunscreen takes time to begin working. Besides the discomfort or pain a sunburn will cause, your skin is damaged and more susceptible to developing skin cancer (melanoma) later. Don't ruin the rest of your vacation.

Bring a video, digital, or SLR camera to get some great candid shots of your children posing with parade clowns or scrambling for candy. A special photographic tip: get in close to your subjects and fill the frame with their faces or bodies.

Here's another tip on something you may want with you. Most parades last for only one or two hours but you may still want to bring a few healthy snack alternatives plus some bottled water to rehydrate your body. Sometimes bottled water is sold by vendors walking up and down the parade route but can be expensive.

This is an important tip for the youngsters in your family. Bring a zipper-sealed bag for each child to put their candy into. Be sure to bring a small litter bag for the inevitable wrappers from eaten candy. You do not want to be a bad example to the children. Teach them not littering is proper manners.

Watch for the honor guard which usually heads up every parade. They will be carrying the American flag. While there seems to be no standard manners for parade watchers regarding the flag, we have taught our children that it is respectful to stand, remove our hats, and place our hands over our hearts until the honor guard passes. In Annandale, a hush fell over the entire audience when the honor guard passed by. Sadly, I have watched parades where people around me continued to laugh and chatter, displaying rude manners and paying no attention to the American flag or the military unit which carried it.

If you are in the company of young children, keep an eye on them. Some parade units like the Shriner's Dune Buggy Patrol have performances which take up the width of the street. A child dashing into the street to retrieve one last bit of candy can be hurt. Make sure there is no imminent danger before your child scrambles for that candy.

Since every parade seems to have so many units throwing out candy, we have taught our daughters to show good manners by sharing with younger children who are smaller and not able to get as much. We ask our children to stay in one particular area so all of the children around us have an opportunity to get some candy. Even then some children have been taught bad manners and try to scoop up every piece of candy that is thrown, whether directly in front of them or in front of others

Even if the unit passing by is one with horses, you need to be careful of your child running out to meet the animal. Horses pulling wagons will sometimes shy at a stray candy wrapper flying up in their faces. The best tip is to let the working horses work in the parade and do not attempt to pet them. Dog units are also attractive to young children. The sweetest tempered dog, though, can bite if provoked. Make sure the handler approves before your child reaches out to pet the dog in the parade.

Parades can be entertaining for both you and your children but can be even more enjoyable if you prepare ahead and use good manners.