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As
I neared downtown, I could tell
something big was happening.
Police cars, lights flashing,
hundreds of people lining the
streets and then a marching
band appeared turning south
down Highland Avenue. A parade…?
I figured out real quick
that if I was to get to my art
gallery by 10:00am this past
Saturday I was going to have
to find my way around the blocked
off streets. I turned
off Highland and weaved my way
over to the Farmer’s Market
until I reached Main Street.
All of the streets that
crossed Highland were blocked
off, but now I was ahead of
the parade and asked a police
officer at Main and Highland
how I could get to my gallery
on E Lafayette. Recognizing
my dilemma he recommended a
route which got me to the library
side of downtown. I discovered
that there was available parking
at the Carnegie parking lot.
(Every parking space in every
other lot and on the streets
was taken…WOW! That’s
a lot of people!) I parked there
and walked over to E. Lafayette.
By the hundreds of cars
and by the blocks and blocks
of people-lined streets, I’ll
guess there must have been thousands
of people downtown.
What
was this parade celebrating?
Lane College Homecoming.
The size and
magnitude of this parade was
impressive. Band after
band after band, decked out
automobiles, dancers and much
more continued up Highland to
Main to Hays Ave. It was
10:00am when the head of the
parade marched out onto Highland
Ave and it was 2 hours later
when the tail end of the parade
passed E. Lafayette. This was
no little parade…this was HUGE!
I was so intrigued
why I had no idea this parade
was happening I called a few
other business owners.
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They
didn’t know either. So then
I called Mary Bearden, Director
of Downtown Development. Surely
she would have
informed us if she knew about
it. She too had no idea
that this parade was happening
nor that it would be on this
magnitude. I explained
to Mary that I felt awkward
not knowing about it and irresponsible
that I wasn’t opened early to
greet all these folks as they
arrived to watch the parade.
I also felt let down a
bit that I couldn’t do something
special for this great event
and welcome everyone to my neighborhood.
After
a long discussion with Mary
Bearden, the good news here
is that this was simply solid
proof of growth pains downtown.
Prior to now there was
little need for a notification
protocol when such events occur.
But due to the enormous
growth of the retail sector
downtown, (most of which opens
at 10:00am on Saturday) now
it’s absolutely necessary. If
we would have known about this
ahead of time, we all could
have attempted to notify potential
customers, could have put it
on our websites, and could have
contributed to this celebration. It
truly was a great event! I absolutely
enjoyed hearing the beat of
the bands passing by. I hope
that Lane College will again
have their homecoming parade
march through downtown again
next year. …and I hope
we’ll be granted the opportunity
to contribute by rolling out
a red carpet welcome.
Dickson
is the owner of The Dickson
Gallery of Fine Art at 118 E
Lafayette Street. She may be
contacted by email at rachel@dicksongallery.com
or by phone at 423-9708.
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