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Show Handcart Days parade belongs on Main Street Let's get the Bountiful Handcart Days parade back where it. belongs --back on Bountiful's Main Street It's understandable why the parade route was changed a year ago to a route along 100 West between 500 South and 400 North. Main Street was torn up, and it was virtually impossible '. to hold a parade through a mammoth RDA construction project. pro-ject. Times have changed, changed drastically for the better, but the parade will be staged again this year (Saturday evening) along 100 West. What on earth happened? City officials claim there was a mixup with the parade committee as to the location of this year's event. And before the mixup got straightened out, it was too late. . . Or so say parade officials. They appeared before the city council to announce that the parade route would again be along 100 West. At least that was their understanding, and they had directed their efforts -- and some furiding -- to that end. They told the council that "quite a bit of work and money had been spent towards having the parade on 100 West, and to change at this late date would be costly and would require several major changes. ' ' The committee chairman did not elaborate on the "major changes" necessary, and the council reluctantly okayed the 100 West route for another year. How much time and money was involved in the 100 West proposal? Could it .have been more than monies lost by downtown merchants who usually profit from the parade crowd, but who will not profit from the new route? Why spend more than million to beautify downtown Bountiful, and then the first year that the project is completed -- and the city is looking beautiful - to not capitalize on that beauty by returning the parade route back to Main Street? Most important, where is Bountiful 's tradition? Communities should have pride. They should have tradition. They should carry on past heritages. ; None of this is being done when city officials permit parade routes to be anywhere other than Main Street. Granted, 100 West is a wide street lined wih shade trees. It is more comfortable for spectators even for participants but it is not the place for Bountiful's Handcart Days parade. There is the damage to private property trampling of shrubs and flowers and leaving behind barrels of garbage. The least the city can do this year is to have several large garbage cans placed along the parade route, hist the presence of the cans may mean a cleaner atmosphere when the parade is over. But whatever the reasons for having the parade again on 100 West, it is tradition that the parade in the future be routed along Main Street. Let's get pride back into our July 24th celebration. celebra-tion. Let's get the Handcart Days parade back on Main Street. |