Durham, Cary and Fayetteville make safety preparations for Saturday Christmas parades
The holiday season is in full swing, and this weekend will be a busy one for Christmas parades. Durham, Cary, and Fayetteville are all hosting their Christmas parades on Saturday – and each town is approaching safety preparations differently.
Paarades are meant to be about community, smiling faces, marching bands and the holiday spirit. But after a tragic death at last year's Raleigh Christmas Parade, safety is now top of mind. Communities all over have made changes to parade procedures.
This will be the 44th year for the Cary Jaycees Christmas Parade. It starts at 2 p.m. on East Chatham Street and ends on Dry Avenue in front of the Cary Arts Center.
The Jaycees have implemented several safety precautions, including:
- Giving a safety briefing to all drivers the day of the parade
- Limiting the number of persons on floats to 16
- Walkers stay behind floats, not in front
- Adequate spacing between floats, cars and walkers
- Securely block side streets leading to parade route
Durham has one of the longest-running parades, spanning more than seven decades. They started their safety preparations months ago.
On Monday, vehicles that are going to be in the parade were inspected by Durham police.
"We're prepping in these last few days making sure all the participants know what to expect, when to arrive and all the rules and regulations we have in place just to make sure everything is safe, runs smoothly and is a great time for everybody," said Mary Unterreiner, culture and community manager.
The Fayetteville Rotary Club has been hosting the city 's Christmas parade since 1999.
"We do a vehicle inspection and make sure that ever vehicle that's in the parade has a valid registration," said Brandon Price, chairman. "Between that and of course creating some additional spacing between each entry, that's going to provide some additional safety."
Each town has different safety precautions, not only for parade participants, but for spectaculars has well.
If you see something unusual happening, report it to the nearest law enforcement officer.
