New route for VCHS homecoming parade

The route for this year’s Vandalia Community High School homecoming parade is radically different, with several factors contributing to the change.

In year’s past, the parade headed south from VCHS and made a few turns as it moved to and through the downtown business district. This year, the parade heads west on Fillmore Street to Railroad Drive, where it turns north to Fletcher Street, passing the elementary and junior high schools before turning back onto Eighth Street, finishing back at the high school.
Vandalia Police Chief Jeff Ray said that a new, shorter route was considered after the National League of Cities issued recommendations on parades.
“We have a couple of issues,” Ray said, “one being that in the past two years, there have been trains that have broken up the parade.
“Officers stop the parade, but there have been incidents in other towns where a train has hit an individual or a parade entry,” he said. “That was a red flag for us.
“In addition to the potential for incidents, when a train causes a five- or 10-minute delay for part of the parade, some people think the parade is over and they leave (the parade route),” Ray said.
Also, Ray said, with the old route, the police department had to block off about 25 intersections between the high school and the downtown business district. While police are stationed at major intersections, the others are blocked off only with traffic cones.
“What happens if a driver, for some reason, goes through the cones and hits someone in the parade?” he said.
Yet another issue is that the parade entries include pickup trucks full of students. Once the parade ends downtown, Ray said, the students are on their own going back to the high school.
“If one of those students falls or gets thrown from a truck, someone is going to say, ‘Why’d you let them ride in the back of a truck?
“What we are trying to do is mitigate our liabilities and risks, and to keep our children safe,” Ray said.
The police chief said that he has heard the complaints about the parade not passing by Fayette County Hospital Long Term Care, where residents in past years came outside to watch the parade.
While he understands that complaint, Ray mentions that there are a number of other facilities in town – such as Vandalia Rehabilitation and Heath Care Center, Brookstone Estates and Sweetbriar – whose residents do not have an opportunity to watch the parade.
Ray also has heard complaints about the lack of parking. To that, Ray said, residents will be able to park at the high school, in Sonnemann Park, at the baseball and softball diamonds, and at the elementary school/junior high complex.
When a decision was made to change the route of the parade, Ray said, “I was open to different routes.”
There was, for example, a recommendation to take the parade south to Washington Street and back north up Burtschi Street. “There are some narrow streets there, and that could cause some issues,” Ray said.
The police chief emphasized that the route could be changed again in the future.
“I’m open to trying something different,” he said.