How to Organize a Parade

Determine a parade theme. Consider a theme you and others will feel comfortable with planning.

Decide on the magnitude of the parade. Consider if you want to organize a parade for the neighborhood or a larger-scale parade for the entire town or city.

Set a time and date for the parade. Give yourself the time you need to organize the parade, whether it be a few months or a few weeks. In order to have an audience, you will need to advertise your parade far in advance so people can make plans. Announce your parade in a local newspaper or post fliers and signs around your town or neighborhood.

Establish a parade committee. Depending on the size of your parade, you may need to pull together a group of people to work with you on organizing the parade. Not only will a committee help you plan for the parade, but they will also assist with clean-up, building floats and more.

Set budgets and obtain permits. To organize large-scale parades in a town or city, you will need to obtain special permits to use public streets, erect barriers and hire security or police officers to control crowds and traffic.

Set up a marching registration sheet. Finding out how many participants you have in advance will allow you to set time constraints in place.

Organize the timeline of the parade. Depending on the amount of participants and time allotted for the parade, you will need to plan accordingly; such as determining how fast floats will travel and how far apart to space each participant.

Set up rules and guidelines for all participants. Establish guidelines around appropriate costumes, advertising limits, or even alcohol limits, depending on the parade theme.

Seek out parade sponsors. If you plan on having floats in your parade, some local car dealerships may want to lend cars to the participants in your parade for advertising purposes. Be sure to mention your sponsors in parade fliers or brochures.

Generate excitement. As the day of your parade closely approaches, generate a buzz in your community by hanging banners and posting signs on the parade route.