I remember seeing my first Troy Flag Day parade in 1979, five months after moving to my current abode. I've missed a few in recent years, but I also knew that the parade committee had been considering putting an end to what had been an annual downtown tradition for at least the last three years.
Then, on Friday, that decision finally came to pass. Citing declining attendance and interest in participation from local and outside parties, the committee voted unanimously to end the parade after 51 years. What used to be an event on a grand scale, to the point where they'd boasted as many as 50,000 people lining the parade route from South Troy to 4th Street, between Fulton & Grand Streets, had shrunk to about half its size. The committee was losing money due to outside acts either cancelling at the last minute or not committing at all. As far as declining public interest, chalk it up to the usual factors of modern day society (i.e. social media).
In the end, I think the committee decided to wait until they'd reached the 50th anniversary, which was last year, before deciding to end the parade. Not sure about this, but I think some of the same people were also involved in the now defunct Uncle Sam Birthday Parade in Lansingburgh, which came right after Labor Day every September until that was discontinued a few years back. They're also citing the passings of a number of veterans of World War II, Korea, & Vietnam as another reason for discontinuing the parade.
This year's parade, had it gone on, would again feature, I think, Troy High's state championship football team, which took part in the Victorian Stroll back in December. Troy's not into ticker tape parades, otherwise, the boys would've already had one. Maybe now's the time to create a canyon of heroes for local champions, just like in New York. We don't have any other reasons to celebrate anymore.
2 comments:
That sounds sad but that doesn't mean things can't turn around.
In Las Vegas several years back, the annual Veteran's Day parade was nearly cancelled due to "low attendance" and "lack of interest". Once the media got involved, people were outraged and the parade went on. It's now the largest Veteran's Day Parade west of the Mississippi!!
If you can get get more media attention (social media and more traditional outlets) and get some interest from vets you might be able to change things. The vets don't have to be local if there aren't any - just sending word to VFW posts can help more than you know.
Problem is we had a large community of veterans. It isn't so much the passing of a lot of vets that's the problem. Fundraising became an issue in recent years, as here in the Northeast, today's generation is more interested in being away from home on weekends.....
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