Organizers of last Saturday’s 29th Annual Festival of Lights Parade are expressing concern and some frustration over handling safety issues at the nearly two-hour event that has attracted an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people in recent years.
Joyce Lucke, a committee member since 2009 for JAKKS Inc. that organizes the event, mentioned that the biggest challenge unfolded at Fifth and Washington streets, where viewers on both sides edged into Washington Street, making it tough for entries to pass safely at one point.
“I was told that one of the (four marching) bands were forced to break formation just to pass,” Lucke said, adding that she was required to remain in the staging area during the parade.
Organizers pay 11 officers from Securitas Security Services USA in Indianapolis a total of about $1,200 for crowd control along the one-mile route that stretches from Fifth and Brown streets southward to east on Third Street, and north on Washington Street to Eighth.
“We might be bumping up that number (next year),” Lucke said. “We use them instead of our volunteers because we’re always hoping people will more readily respect the uniform (of officers).”
For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.
