Strolling of the Heifers Parade Unit Application

If you are registering heifers for the Parade, please use the Heifer Registration Form

Countdown clock to Stroll Weekend:

 

Parade units will “stroll” up Main Street, from Flat Street to the Brattleboro Common, starting at 10 a.m., Saturday June 6, 2020 in the world-famous Strolling of the Heifers Parade!

As always, the Parade is a great opportunity to showcase your organization to tens of thousands of parade-watchers from across New England and beyond. We invite your participation!

 

 

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2020 Parade application guidelines and rules:

We will only review applications that are submitted via this online application form. Invitations will be extended to participants selected by the parade committee.

The parade instructions and staging locations will be sent along with the invitation. This will be done on a rolling basis as applications come in. If you have any questions, please e-mail parade coordinator at Parade@StrollingoftheHeifers.com.

We want everyone to have a fun and safe parade, so we need to make sure everyone follows a few simple rules. Please make note of the following important parade rules and be sure that your participants understand them:

Strolling of the Heifers Parade Rules

1. The purpose of the parade is to celebrate farming and local food, and that should be the focus of each unit’s messaging. Your unit must conform to the description you provide at registration — no changes without permission from the parade director.
2. No more than 30 people in any unit without special permission from the parade director.
3. Motorized vehicles are not allowed in the parade, with the exception of farm vehicles or by specific approval from the parade committee. Hay wagons drawn by draft animals or farm vehicles make great platforms for music groups or other acts that can not march.
4. Any vehicle, float or trailer that will carry children must have railings or other appropriate restraints to prevent falls.
5. All animals need to be appropriately contained or restrained.
6. No dogs are allowed in (or at) the parade, since they may frighten the heifers or other animals. No exceptions, please!
7. Please car pool as much as possible. We do not have any parking in the staging area. You can find info about our shuttle parking lots on our website and we have buses running from the parking lots to downtown.
8. To help with traffic at the staging area, please try to park elsewhere and walk in as a group. The street will be blocked off to most traffic.
9. Be on time to line up. Staging area will open up at 8 a.m. and everyone is required to be in their division no later than 9:30 a.m.
10. Obey the commands of our Marshals; they are there to make sure you are in the proper order in the lineup. We do not want to remove anyone from the parade but we will if instructions are not being obeyed.
11. 2020 Parade Route!!  We are returning to the parade route of past years – the parade route starts at Flat Street and moves north on Main Street to the island at the Brooks Memorial Library where the route  heads NORTH on Putney Road and turns left onto Park Place at the Common. Parade units will continue west on Park Place and turn north on Linden Street to disperse at the bottom of Cedar Street.
    • It is important to keep moving at parade end point to allow for flow of the parade to the final unit.
    • Heifer Units will either return to trailers or some will stay on Common by prior arrangement.
12. While in the parade, please keep a constant distance away from the unit in front of you. We would like 20 to 30 feet of space between units, but not more. This gives you better exposure to the crowd and they will be able to distinguish one from the other. Do not slow down and create bigger gaps; do not speed up and close the gaps too small.
13. No throwing candy or other materials into the crowd from any floats. If you want to pass out anything to the crowd have it in pails and go along the side and hand it out.
14. No passing out of literature of any kind. With the crowd coming to the parade from all over New England and beyond, most of the time the literature will get thrown away or become litter on the street. If you have a booth at the event after the parade, you can pass out literature then.
15. No stopping to do any routines, unless given permission from the parade committee.

If any of these rules are not followed you may be asked to leave or not participate.  If you have any question, please feel free to email me at any time: Parade@StrollingoftheHeifers.com.

Lauri and Kevin Miner, Parade Coordinators