RANDOLPH — Residents are pushing back after the town’s annual Fourth of July Parade’s route was shortened this year due to public safety concerns.
This year, the event, which is hosted by the White River Valley Chamber of Commerce and kicks off around 10 a.m. on July 4, will be confined to Main Street, also known as State Route 12. The traditional route included Maple Street and Highland Avenue, known as the Hospital Hill area.
Randolph Police Chief Scott Clouatre said that the police department likes to have 10 officers staff the parade, but will settle for eight. Last year, the department had seven officers who blocked off roads, enforced detours and engaged in crowd control measures.
“This event pulls over 1,000 people in a very small confined area,” Clouatre said in a Thursday phone interview.
The traditional parade route is roughly a mile long and can take up to two hours to complete, depending on the number of participants, he said.
In addition to managing traffic, officers typically respond to a half-dozen incidents during the parade, such as fights, car accidents and people who become drunk and disorderly, in addition to assisting with medical calls.
“If the parade goes down those Maple and Highland areas, I can’t get people where they need to be along the parade route,” Clouatre said. “With public safety in mind, that was the best option that we had. The other option was to not have a parade.”
This year, Clouatre was able to find five officers to work the parade detail, including two from Royalton. The five-member Randolph Police Department is currently down two officers because one is on medical leave and another is on military deployment.
“We’ve reached out to area agencies, neighboring agencies for support and have really been told that they are also short-staffed or committed to other commitments like Fourth of July parades in their respective communities,” Clouatre said, adding that he hopes to find enough officers to have the parade resume its traditional route next spring.
While volunteers are helpful, Clouatre said he doesn’t want to put them in positions where they could be be vulnerable or come to harm, particularly as in the past people have become combative around road closings.
Supporters of the parade’s traditional route argue the town could do more to make sure the route goes on as planned.
“They want it put back where it was, and they want the town to take care of getting enough people to make sure it’s as safe as it has been all the other years,” said Nan Gwin, a longtime Randolph resident who is part of a group that has been encouraging town officials to rethink the plans for the parade. “We hope to see it back this year through having the chamber apply for a new parade permit.”
Gwin also would like to see the town consider hiring private security officers or “spend a little bit of time and train some volunteers” to help with public safety tasks.
Paul Rea, a Braintree, Vt., resident who grew up in Randolph and used to own a real estate business on Main Street, said he is frustrated that town officials don’t seem to be doing more to make sure the parade sticks to its traditional route.
It is especially important, he said, because the United States is celebrating its 250th anniversary this year.
“They’ve dug their heels in and don’t seem like they’re willing to find solutions to a very easy problem,” Rea said in a phone interview. “I would like them to be problem-solvers. Let’s figure this out, have faith in our community that we can pull this off for our 250th year.”
The parade is hosted by the chamber. Each year, it applies to the town for a permit, said executive director Marissa Mazzucco. The celebration, which includes a festival after the parade, costs around $11,000.
At Town Meeting this year, voters approved a $2,500 appropriation for the White River Valley Chamber of Commerce, which will go toward paying police officers who assist with the parade. Due to the elimination of the Hospital Hill area, the route was adjusted to include more of the Gifford Medical Center campus on Main Street, where spectators can gather on the lawn.
“We recognize the disappointment and frustration many community members feel regarding this year’s change,” Mazzucco wrote in an email. “The Chamber does not independently approve parade routes or close roads, and the route moving forward this year is the route that received the necessary coordination and approval to allow the event to take place.”
The chamber applied for a permit after consulting with town officials, including Clouatre, and the Selectboard approved it in March, Selectboard Chairman Larry Satcowitz, who lives in the Hospital Hill part of town, said in a phone interview.
As part of the process, an organization must answer questions about public safety and public health. Those details, including the parade route, had already been worked out by the time the Selectboard reviewed the permit.
“If the permit meets those concerns, the Selectboard must grant the permit,” Satcowitz said, adding that the board could not deny the permit because of a change in the route. “I really trust our police chief to exercise good judgment around these matters that he is an expert on. It would be really inappropriate for me to second-guess his judgment.”
