By: Kathy L. Collins
The Annual Brandon 4th of July Parade presented by The Community Roundtable will be held on Saturday, July 4 beginning at 10 a.m. This year’s theme is Red, White and Blue.
The parade route will begin at Lumsden and Parsons. The route will continue north on Parsons, stop at the reviewing stand located in front of Nature’s Health Foods at Parsons and Oakfield, continue west on Robertson and end at Buckingham Place.
Janine Nickerson, President of The Community Roundtable said, “The Community Roundtable has presented the 4th of July Parade for nearly 60 years. It still has the home town feel. Spectators come as early as 5 AM to set up in ‘their’ spot. Their grandparents brought them to the parade and now they are bringing their grandchildren. Typically, we have about 30,000 spectators and this is believed to be the largest Independence Day Parade in Florida.”
There are usually 100 entries comprised of floats, trailers, marching units, horses, and sometimes a throwback to the early days of the parade, a tractor. Nickerson added, “The military, veteran organizations, and favorite floats such as TECO and McDonald’s (from Casper’s Restaurants) will appear. Following tradition, The Community Roundtable honors the 2015 Non-Profit of the Year, the Outreach Clinic. Their volunteers are our guests and will have a banner identifying the organization. The Bloomingdale and Brandon High School bands combine to provide the best patriotic music in the county.”
In keeping with tradition, the parade includes the Father of the Year and their child and the newly named Honorary Mayor of Brandon. The 2015 Maureen Krzanowski Scholarship recipient, Mallory Hillary of Bloomingdale High School’s Class of 2015 will also be in the parade. Once they ride through the parade, they are all escorted back to the VIP Grandstand to watch the remainder of the parade with their family. Invited guests for the VIP Grandstand also include former Honorary Mayors and Alice B. Tompkins community service award winners.
The Parade Committee is looking for sponsors and volunteers. Students in need of community service hours can have fun and help the community by volunteering for set up and clean up.
For more information on the 2013 4th of July Parade, please contact The Community Roundtable at 661-4350 or email at roundtable2008@aol.com. For more information on The Community Roundtable, please visit www.thecommunityroundtable.org.
