The Town of Wake Forest is doing its very best to deal with the wet forecast for the Christmas parade on Saturday the 14th. Sadly the forecast is looking pretty wet. Rest assured a third of the staff at Town Hall is probably hitting refresh on Weather.com every ten minutes. “Nope, still looks crappy for Saturday. Damn!”
But regardless of the anticipated weather it’s a go for Santa arriving in Wake Forest at 1 PM. And as the Town is painfully pointing out, rain or shine, bitches. The “bitches” was our part.
The parade will most likely take place behind a solid row of umbrellas lining the sidewalks but if you do want to come out and brave the probable inclement weather, the route map is below.
“If there was ice and snow in the forecast, we would certainly consider postponing or canceling the parade because safety comes first,” said Downtown Development Director Lisa Newhouse. “But with a forecast of showers and no promise of good weather in the future, we’re keeping everything as scheduled and hoping for the best.”
According to Newhouse, this year’s parade will feature 120 entries, including floats, bands and decorated vehicles. Throw in Santa Claus and that number comes to somewhere around 2,000 total participants. That’s not counting the 50 plus volunteers and 33 police officers scheduled to work the parade.
Police Chief Jeff Leonard says his officers have been scheduled to work the day of the parade since last December, so rescheduling them would be easier said than done. What really meant to say was probably rescheduling all those folks would be a real pain in the ass so on with the show. Wake Forest Police Officer are drip dry so a little rain won’t melt them.
“The Christmas Parade requires a full allocation of manpower,” says Leonard. “We don’t allow our officers to take vacation on the day of the parade in order to ensure we have sufficient staffing. Any other day we simply would not have enough officers available because some will have the day off and some will be on vacation.”
Besides, the officers are probably looking forward to the overtime, even if it does end up being a little soggy. Just remember, direct deposits don’t get wet.
“Considering all of the logistics involved, we’re moving forward rain or shine,” said Newhouse. “No matter what the weather has in store, we’re excited about once again offering one of our area’s best Christmas parades and looking forward to a great turnout.”
And that’s some genuine Wake Forest optimism at its finest.