Meeting To Discuss Parade Safety Set For Tuesday
Wednesday, August 16th, 2023
There will be a public meeting next week to discuss possible rule changes for downtown parades after problems observed last year left officials shaken and concerned about safety. The City of Dalton will host the meeting on Tuesday, August 22nd at 5:00 pm in the City Council Chamber at City Hall.
"We already have guidelines and regulations for parades and what we’re trying to do is to fine tune those in coordination with the (parade) organizers to ensure a really good, successful parade as well as one that we all know going into it ensures the safety of the crowd," said city administrator Andrew Parker. "Such a great event does not need to be ruined by a tragic event."
Each year, three longstanding "legacy" parades are held in the downtown Dalton area along with other, newer parades that happen throughout the year. The Dalton High School Homecoming Parade, the Christmas Parade, and the Veterans Day Parade all follow the City's traditional parade route from Waugh Street to Hamilton Street before returning on Morris Street and Thornton Avenue. During the 2022 editions of these parades, problems were observed with crowds getting too close to the parade route. Spectators even stood in the street making it difficult for vehicles and floats to pass which caused delays and more importantly, safety risks.
Caption: A photo taken from inside a parade vehicle in December 2022 shows spectators standing in the road on Hamilton Street
"Over the years, we’ve had some various incidents that have raised concern and most recently in 2022 there was so much interest in the parades, we had such large crowds, we really saw for the first time some real safety concerns as it relates to the crowd’s proximity to the moving parade route," Parker said. "(We saw) children getting close to try to get candy or see the float or see the parade."
After the final parade of 2022, public safety officials and City leaders began a series of meetings to discuss the problem and study possible changes to ensure future parades could be staged more safely.
"The first thing we do after a parade is an after-event analysis and our public safety departments did a great job of taking pictures during the parades so we could really analyze what are the key contributors for why we’re concerned," Parker said. "We developed a list of recommendations for the City Council to consider and we plan to further refine those in this public meeting with the parade organizers on Tuesday."
Caption: A picture taken inside of the Dalton Fire Department's Tower 1 which was driven in a downtown parade last December shows the crowded and dangerous condition of Hamilton Street
Some of the proposals that have been studied include limiting the overall number of participants in the parade or requiring vehicles and floats to be decorated in the theme of the event to limit the amount of traffic. Another proposal would require event organizers to provide a group of volunteers to assist with crowd control efforts. While the Dalton Police Department devotes an extensive amount of resources including officers on patrol of the parade route, there aren't enough officers to be present at every point along the route to ensure people stay clear. Other proposals would limit the locations where candy can be thrown to the crowd (which often attracts children to enter the roadway) or prohibit livestock in parades (which can be spooked by the crowds and noise and behave erratically). Another proposal would limit the types of trailers which can be used for floats and eliminate high-standing flat bed trailers which can lead to falls for participants.
Those proposals and others will be discussed at Tuesday evening's meeting, along with an overview of the problems that City leaders have observed at parades which led to this effort. City leaders hope that the organizers of Dalton's three "legacy" parade events can provide feedback and discussion of the proposals so the City Council will have a clear picture of what changes are needed. The public is also invited to attend.
"Particularly, we want feedback from the parade organizers themselves because all three of our legacy parades have had longstanding participation and they understand this because they have done it for so long," Parker said. "We’re certainly open to feedback from the public as well based on their observations from 2022."
He added, "our goal is not to take away at all from the enjoyment and the participation of the community in these parades. It’s just to pull some selective levers to ensure the safety of those in attendance."
