The last Homecoming parade held in Perry was in 2007, but if Dave Wright has his way, all of that may change.
Wright spoke to Monday’s meeting of the Perry Community School District Board of Education at some length about tentative plans to revive the event in Perry.
A sub-committee of the Perry Chamber of Commerce, Wright said, has been studying what they can do to see the parade returned to the community.
The parade would be sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and insured by them, Wright said. Similar to the Fourth of July parade, the Chamber would invite people to participate.
He stressed the parade would not interfere with any activities at the school.
“We want this to be in addition to all the great things the school is already doing,” Wright said. “We would like involve all the schools, the band and the business community in this. The goal is to increase the promote interaction between businesses and the school.”
“We have thought about having the parade on Thursday at 6 p.m., so people who work out of town could see it or be involved,” he added. “The idea is that the parade would start downtown and end here at the high school, and then the usual Thursday activities could start once everyone is out here.”
Any return of the parade is still, Wright said, “very much in the fact-finding phase” and that the sub-committee is “trying to determine whether or not to keep going.”
“I would say we probably have 20 out of 100 businesses who want to go forward with this,” Wright said. “Many of the others are just waiting to see what a final possible plan would look like.”
Wright said he had approached the high school two years ago about a return of the parade and was told that declining student participation was one of the reasons the parade was removed from the week-long celebration of Homecoming.
PHS principal Dan Marburger said he “was suprised to hear a sub-committee is meeting.”
“I have spoken with (Chamber President) Bob Wilson about this and he has told me flat-out, several times, that there is no interest among the Chamber to do this,” he added. “I have spoken with the students about this and they get all fired up and then it doesn’t happen. I do not want to go back to them for a third year, get them all excited, and then tell them one more time it is not going to happen.”
Discussion was held regarding what had become a steady decline in the building of traditional floats, whether students were interested in the parade primarily as an excuse to be out of class and several other areas. No action was taken by the board, which thanked Wright for coming forward to share his ideas and information.
Wright said he would continue to research all possibilities regarding a return of the parade.
