Hometown Fair Parade Set For This Evening
After a two year’s absence - due to COVID - 19 pandemic restrictions - tonight’s Moose Jaw Hometown Fair Parade is set to go.
The only thing stopping the parade this year is a torrential downpour and Environment Canada’s hourly forecast is calling for mixed sun and cloud with a low chance of precipitation when the parade is set to head down Main Street North.
“It looks like it is going to be pretty good. I am not sure how many entries we are going to have as we had a few more come in today. We haven’t got a total count from those yet but it is shaping up,” Judy Wilson chair of the Moose Jaw Hometown Fair said.
PARADE SET TO GO - The last Moose Jaw Hometown Fair Parade was held in 2019. At the time people described the parade as one of the best Hometown Fair parades ever. Today’s version is set to go at 7 pm down Main Street from Saskatchewan Street to Manitoba Street - MJ Independent file photo
“I just hope everybody comes out as it has been a couple of years now (since the last parade) and have some fun with it,” Wilson said.
The parade this year will also include a few horses from the RCMP Musical Ride who are putting on four free shows at the Hometown Fair.
Asked about how she felt after the Hometown Fair, and the parade as a result, being cancelled she said it was great to be able to restart the annual event.
“I think it is great. Just like organizing the Fair for us the last couple of years, the parade and everything involved with it,” Wilson said, adding although the Hometown Fair and Parade were cancelled the Exhibition still had to plan and organize until the decision was made to cancel.
“It’s all good in every way.”
Although the weather forecast looks good for the parade “really bad rain and thunderstorms” would cancel the parade whereas if the weather was drizzling the parade itself would go ahead.
This year’s parade theme is Salute To Your Heroes. The theme came out of the COVID - 19 pandemic.
“It came out of COVID. It could be any kind of hero. For the kids it could be Spiderman is their hero otherwise there are other heroes who might have helped through COVID.”
Although the theme is on heroes the Exhibition only encourages the theme and it is not compulsory just a guideline.
Wilson said the Exhibition and its parade committee never knows exactly what the floats will look like until they show up in the Town and Country Mall parking lot where volunteer parade marshals put the parade together.
“It is always exciting to see what people have come up with,” she said.
The parade usually takes about an hour to run depending on the number of floats that are entered.
Parade spectators are encourage to bring lawn chairs to sit and watch the parade. And an umbrella if it looks like there is going to be rain.
The Exhibition Company would like to remind people that parades can sometimes be dangerous and asks parents and people with dogs to be careful and keep their loved ones off of the street to help prevent any potential accidents.
The Moose Jaw Hometown Fair Parade is tonight, Wednesday June 22nd, at 7 pm sharp and runs down Main Street from Saskatchewan Street East to Manitoba Street.