Safety issues shorten parade
WAYNESBURG – This year’s Christmas parade in Waynesburg will be shortened a few blocks as organizers try to set up a “protective buffer” between parade participants and traffic detouring around High Street.
The parade next month will now end at Cumberland Street near St. Ann’s Church, which Waynesburg Chamber of Commerce Director Melody Longstreth said will improve safety for the nearly 100 units participating in the parade after several problems with motorists last year.
The parade has traditionally ended at Porter Street near McCracken’s, which collided at times with the detour in the same area that directed traffic off High Street.
Longstreth said the chamber and Waynesburg police began discussions two years ago about shortening the parade route, but the incidents during last year’s parade – one involving an irate man shouting at a truck driver – prompted them to make changes now.
“That will allow enough room to give participants in the parade to disband and allow a protective buffer between the traffic detour,” she said. “There were just a ton of things that happened last year.”
An increase in both car and truck traffic in recent years also necessitated the change, Longstreth said. She added that there have been some complaints, but organizers want to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
Meanwhile, Longstreth said the parade organizers are excited to have all five of the county’s high school marching bands participating this year, each being led by their own Miss Merry Christmas.
Claire Kreider, Miss Rain Day 2015, will sing national anthem to kick off the parade. The chamber’s 2015 Distinguished Service Award winners, former judge William Nalitz, the family of the late Donald Lindsay and members of the Waynesburg Moose Lodge, will lead the parade as its grand marshals. Christmas music will be playing at the courthouse steps before the parade starts.
There will be trophies and ribbons awarded to the top three floats, along with the ones showing the Most Original, Best Design and Most Spirit.
And, as usual, Santa Claus will be the guest of honor riding at the end of the parade.
The parade, organized by the Waynesburg Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by FirstEnergy Foundation, will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5.
Line-up begins at noon at the First Baptist Church parking lots and the First United Methodist Church parking lot, and Richhill and Wayne streets. Parking in these lots and nearby streets will not be allowed after 10 a.m. The streets will reopen at 4 p.m.