“This year, because of insurance reasons ... candy cannot be thrown,” said Candace Lee, executive director of the Lebanon Independence Day Parade. “People can walk alongside the floats and hand out candy to the crowd.”
The reason for the policy is clear: minimizing the potential for accidents.
“We don’t allow our parade participants to actually throw candy into the crowd because we don’t want kids running in the street if some candy happens to fall,” said Stephan Lark, president of the Troy Independence Day Celebration Association.
Even though area parade organizers said they had not experienced a candy-related injury, they said they want to do whatever they can to avoid kids being drawn into the path of the parade.
“No one has been injured or hit, but we have had some close calls,” Fairborn Parks superintendent Pete Bales said of the city’s Fourth of July parade.
“It really is just about safety,” said Beavercreek parks director Mike Thonnerieux, who is in charge of the city’s Fourth of July parade. “We don’t have any additional insurance; the city just has a blanket policy.”
Jordan Wyant, who heads up the Labor Day Holiday at Home festival in Kettering, said the parade once had a child hurt when she ran into the parade to see her parents.
“So we do everything we can to try to prevent the kids from running into the floats,” Wyant said.
But not all parade organizers agree that tossed candy is a problem. In fact, at Waynesville’s annual Hometown Parade that took place Saturday, the more flying candy the better.
“Our only policy on the candy throwing is they have to have enough candy for the entire parade,” organizer Pam Bowman said. “They’re not allowed to run out.”
Bowman said the candy has not been a safety issue because the Main Street site is very narrow.
“If it became a safety issue, we would discontinue candy throwing,” she said.
The size of the street may play a role for other organizers, as well. Oakwood’s That Day in May Parade, usually held on a single lane of Shafor Boulevard, allows candy to be thrown.
But, according to coordinator Jill Kollars, when the parade was held on Far Hills Avenue a few years ago for an anniversary celebration, participants were limited to handing out candy.
Some organizers enforce candy policies by removing or warning those in violation, but most address them by not inviting the party back to the parade the following year.
“But sometimes that can get dicey, because it may be a local Cub Scout group or something,” said Jim Reppert, executive director of the Americana Festival. “We don’t want to rain on their parade.”
Staff writers Tiffany Geter and April Price contributed to this report.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7325 or jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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