Boone County — Lifelong Lebanon resident and long-time public servant Charlies Wines will be leading teh Boone County Fourth of July Parade as the parade's grand marshal Monday.
Police, fire, and emergency medical personnel met with Boone County Fourth of July representatives recently to finalize traffic and other details for Lebanon’s annual parade.
Some changes have been made to improve public safety.
No vendors of food, drink or other items will be allowed along the parade route, said parade chairwoman Susan Kinney. Previous parades have been slowed and sometimes temporarily stopped because of congestion caused by vendors.
No solicitors for any kind of donation will be permitted.
An ATV equipped with medical supplies will be added to the emergency vehicle pool, John Merson, director of emergency medical services at Witham Hospital, said. The Lebanon Fire Department will again use its ATV customized for rapid response to medical emergencies.
As in previous years, traffic in Lebanon’s Memorial Park is already one-way from the Meridian Street entrance to the Lebanon Street entrance, Police Chief Tom Garoffolo said. Parking is prohibited along either side of the west drive, which parallels North Lebanon Street.
No-parking signs will go up along the parade route at 3 p.m. on July 3, Lebanon Street Superintendent Larry Lee said. Barricades at cross streets along the parade route will be in place at 7 a.m. July 4; the route will be closed to all other traffic at 1:30 p.m. At the same time, the North Lebanon Street gate to Memorial Park, which is closed every other day of the year, will be opened to help ease traffic congestion.
Parade goers are strongly urged to leave traffic barricades alone.
The parade will begin forming at 8 a.m. on the Lebanon High School parking lot. Only parade entries will be allowed access to the lot. The Lebanon Middle School parking lot has been reserved for parade entrant parking, said Fourth of July chairwoman Nancy Busenbark.
Because a few drivers every year ignore the yellow wood barricades placed by the street department, this year Triangle Asphalt Corp. will provide orange construction barrels to block access to the north side of the LHS parking lot.
Volunteers from the sheriff’s office’s citizen academy, Community Emergency Response Teams, amateur radio operators, sheriff reserves and others will staff barricades and help with traffic.
People who gather at the intersection of Camp and North Meridian streets to watch the parade are asked to remain behind a safety line painted on the street. Children who dart into the road to gather up candy, and adults who migrate beyond the line, have sometimes made it impossible for parade units to negotiate the turn there.
The parade committee has sole authority to cancel the parade in the event of bad weather, said LPD Lt. Brent Wheat. Police and LFD personnel will alert the public, “but it’s up to people to heed the warnings,” Wheat said.
Lebanon High School is the designated severe weather emergency shelter. The truck bays of LFD’s former downtown station, on South East Street between Main and South streets, could be used if necessary, LFD Chief Ted Caldwell said.
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