Last Saturday I went to the city summer celebration. Well, we went to the evening parade and fireworks. My son enjoyed getting candy from the floats that went by. I remember doing the same as a kid. Except when we rode in the parade and threw the candy. And I remembered how many places had outlawed throwing candy in parades for safety. So, have you been to a parade where you got free candy? What about your kids/neices/nephews/neighbors - or I guess, does your local parade still throw candy?
The main parade here in town is the Halloween parade and yes, they still throw candy. The committee for the 50th Anniversary of the First Man on the Moon is planning to recreate the parade that was held in September 1969 for the homecoming celebration of Neil Armstrong. That in itself is a major undertaking... that parade was HUGE! They've got a year to get it done and if it is like the original, there will be candy thrown! Although a lot of the individuals involved in that parade (Neil Armstrong for one) are no longer living so it won't be an exact replica. They want to try to get a lot of the organizations/businesses that had a float in that parade to do it again. I really hope they can pull it off.
Yes, it's small but there's community day in Sept ... and all the local teams/clubs/etc can choose to march and throw out candy. It's been years though since we went or participated. We can see all the town fireworks from our deck - so we cheat and avoid the traffic! That sounds pretty cool @HavaDrPepper !!!
Yes, our city Posy Parade has candy. Kids & community leaders throw candy from vehicles. No floats in this parade.
I can't remember the last time I saw people throw candy. It was always fun for the kids, though and they acted like they had never had candy before. LOL There's a huge parade and celebration every year called "The Celebration of Light". It's a celebration of all of Thomas Edison's accomplishments. They have a huge parade and it's very impressive!! @HavaDrPepper - that sounds like it will be wonderful!!
I haven’t been to a lot of parades but a neighboring county has a Halloween parade I attended a few years ago and they threw candy.
It's been a little while since I've been to a parade or been in one, but last time I went they still threw candy. The last one I was in, we were kind of given the advice to toss it easily and not pelt people with it LOL
I remember one Rosenmontag parade with lots of candy and gifts being thrown! This was a first for me and I was soooooo excited! They just threw it! On the streets! Rosenmontag is the Monday of the Carnaval event that takes place in parts of Europe, like Germany and catholic parts of the Netherlands and Belgium. It's a way to go crazy for one more time before Lent starts: the 40 days of fasting before Easter. As you can see it's a dress-up party that's taken very seriously in the regions where they celebrate carnaval! The first photo shows the Prince Carnaval of the city he parties in. Yep.
We have a couple parades in my town that we went to growing up and they never threw candy, but the tiny town my hubby grew up in has the world's largest Flag Day parade (it's not huge at all ) but the first time we took our kids down there, they threw candy and my kid's were SO excited. They still throw candy at that parade, but my boys have outgrown it a bit. We missed it this year for the first time in a long time...
I don't like that they throw candy for kids at parades. In my experience, it creates havoc and selfishness. I remember once or twice, older kids pushing my kids out of the way to get to it. Once a PARENT was telling their kid to grab the candy before my kids could. Terrible. I don't go to parades anymore.
All of the parades that I have been in have specified that we are not supposed to throw candy -- we are supposed to hand them directly to people. It makes sense to me, since it keeps kids from getting underfoot while the parade goes by, and give the watchers a chance to see some of the parade up close (in my case, I'm usually with a group of kids for one organization/club or another, so I feel like it is positive interaction with the community.) There is less clean up and waste too.
when i hear 'parade' i think disney because i don't think i've ever willingly been to one here, few and far between as they are, but the disney ones with their floats are obviously a must-see. the mardi gras one in sydney is pretty famous but i've never been (it's not exactly kid-friendly and its a crowd and public transport nightmare). i know there's a parade bit south around easter as part of the blessing of the fleet in a coastal town that has gone from more religious to more commercial in the last year but only because insurance to cover these things now has meant they have to cover costs somehow to enable them to go ahead - as a kid, we lived behind a main road and it was part of a yearly spring parade route, our street was the 'get yourselves in line' prep spot for the start of the parade but it was mostly local scout and dance groups with banners and bagpipes and brass instrument groups - don't want to offend anyone, but bagpipes to me are the worst instrument in the world and are synonymous with parades here to me!
Growing up candy was always thrown during parades (and always seemed to be Brach's Pick and Mix types with the butterscotch discs!). It's not allowed here in Chicago (not sure why though)... walkers with the floats can hand things out to the spectators. I actually just saw that this morning as I was looking up info for Sunday's Pride Parade. Somewhere we lived (we moved a bit and I can't remember where it was now) had banned the throwing of candy after a child ran into the parade route to fetch a piece and was killed by being run over by one of the floats. That's always on my mind now at parades where they still throw candy.
The candy that is still thrown during the parades in my town are not thrown from the floats or vehicles being driven. People walk along side the floats/vehicles and they are the ones that throw the candy. They usually walk near the edge of the street as well so that any children that go for the candy don't have to go into the street. Some of the adults that walk alongside will actually hand candy to the smaller children that tend to get pushed aside by bigger children. There are also law enforcement posted every so often on the parade route to keep things under control. And, since most of the floats are being pulled by farm tractors, they tend to not go very fast! For those vehicles that go faster than they should, they tend to leave the marching bands and walking units behind so there end up being gaps in the parade. There was talk at one time about banning candy but the compromise was made that it only be thrown/handed out by those walking along the side of the street and not from the floats/vehicles. It really does seem to be working for my small town.
We mostly have the walkers along the road dropping candy in front of the kids. We also get lots of flyers, emery boards, frozen flavored ice, magnets, bottled water, and we once even got a t-shirt. While there is still candy for the kids, there are lots of advertisements from local businesses and politicians for the adults.
