Walking the walk
What you need to know as Hadley presents massive parade marking 350 years
Thursday, June 11, 20091
HADLEY - Thirty-one floats and as many as 100,000 spectators, plus lots of enthusiasm and parking challenges, are expected at Hadley's 350th anniversary parade Sunday.
The parade is by far the biggest event in Hadley's yearlong anniversary celebration, and its $80,000 budget is more than half the total cost. It has been in the planning stages for almost three years.
The organizers have even figured out that if 100,000 spectators come - the high end of loose estimates on turnout - they will be 10 deep along both sides of the parade route.
For comparison's sake, the 58th annual Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade this year drew an estimated 300,000 people to that city's downtown.
In Holyoke, it's all about Irish heritage. In Hadley this Sunday, it will be all about a shared legacy. The theme of the parade is "Celebrating Our Past, Embracing the Future."
Victoria Kozera Drabek, who at 101 is Hadley's oldest resident, will attend.
Details, details
A two-mile section of Route 9 from Mill Valley Road to West Street will close at about 12:30 p.m. and the parade will run from about 1 to 4 p.m. It will start at Long Hollow Bison Farm and proceed west on Route 9, past Route 47, to the town common. Because Mill Valley Road is serving as a staging area, a business there, Ideal Movers & Storage, cautions customers that there will be no access to storage sheds Sunday.
Lots of music will be performed by parade participants, including a polka band, Irish band, fife and drum groups, bagpipers, a drum and bugle corps playing Broadway tunes, a military band and the Hopkins Academy Band. There will be antique cars, tractors, bicycles, fire trucks and a 1944 Army jeep.
Many floats will focus on agriculture. Hartsbrook Farm, founded in 1806, will feature the sixth, seventh and eighth generation of family farmers, plus a barn replica and old equipment. Muddy Brook Farm will show off an antique surrey and a wedding carriage. The North Hadley Sugar Shack float will feature an evaporator and sugaring equipment.
The Northampton St. Patrick's Association will present a replica of the Coolidge Bridge on its float. There will be a float from the Freedom Fighter Foundation featuring a large statue of a veteran.
Come one, come many
Current and former Hadley selectmen, politicians, a contingent from Amherst, police officers and firefighters will march. Representatives of Wethersfield, Conn., one of the towns that Hadley's settlers came from 350 years ago, will join in.
More than 150 Melha Shriners, who will debut a new mini-motorcycle, will bring up the rear of the parade. The reviewing stand will be behind Town Hall, with Scott Harris and Terry Warner acting as announcers.
Public parking will be available on the West Street common south of Route 9, on both sides of Middle Street (Route 47), and on the west side of the streets that intersect Route 9, said Police Chief Dennis Hukowicz.
"I think there should be a sufficient amount of parking," he said.
Businesses and residents living near the parade route will sell parking spaces, and the going rate seems to be $10, he said. "Fifty years ago, I parked cars for $2," Hukowicz said, referring to the 300th anniversary parade.
Handicapped spectators and senior citizens will be allowed to park at Hopkins Academy.
Hukowicz said he does not anticipate giving out parking tickets. "I think we'll call it Christmas," he said.
He urged spectators to bring their own chairs.
Amherst Fire Department ambulances will use Rocky Hill Road to get to Cooley Dickinson Hospital if there are any calls during the parade, Hukowicz said.
In all, 26 police officers, including some from the University of Massachusetts force, will keep order during the parade.
Parade participants should arrive by 11 a.m. and park on the north side of the West Street common. Shuttles will go to the staging area.
Parade organizers are still looking for six adult volunteers at the staging area. For information on volunteering, call Janet or Norm Barstow at 549-5223.
A souvenir parade guide, including an aerial perspective of the route made up of 60 photos taken last month, will be for sale for $5. It will also be available at Town Hall, which will be open Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Souvenirs will also be available at the Young Men's Club at 138 East St. Saturday and Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. After the parade, a party will take place there, with free food, a cash bar and children's activities.
On Saturday, an open house will be held at Hopkins Academy from 1 to 3 p.m., and at 4 there will be an all-class reunion at the Young Men's Club. There will also be tours of the West Street Common Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and an open house at the historical room of Goodwin Memorial Library from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.