The 18th Annual Park Road Parade will be held on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016.

One of several clowns in West Hartford’s 2014 Park Road Parade. Photo credit: Ronni Newton.

Submitted

Bring the whole family to the 18th annual Park Road Parade on Saturday, October 1, 2016. The one-hour parade steps off at 10:30 a.m. at Ringgold Street and ends at South Quaker Lane.

Over 100 contingents are expected to march in this year’s parade. The parade features bands, clowns, dancers, floats, dogs of all shapes and sizes, antique cars, color guards, businesses, civic and cultural organizations and town and state officials. Each year the parade draws over 7,000 people to Park Road neighborhood.

This year’s Grand Marshals are Dennis House and Kara Sundlun of Eyewitness News 3. Kara Sundlun is a two-time Emmy-award winning journalist. You can catch her live every weekday as the co-host of Better Connecticut with Scot Haney at 3 p.m. She also anchors Eyewitness News at Noon.

Named one of the “12 Most Influential People” by Hartford Magazine, Eyewitness News anchor and Face the State moderator Dennis House has been a mainstay on Channel 3 since 1992. A native New Englander and Emmy award-winning journalist, Dennis co-anchors Eyewitness News at 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m.

A parade would not be complete without music. The 2016 Park Road Parade will feature the University of Hartford’s Brazilian Samba Band, Hall High School 9th Grade and Bristow Middle School 8th Grade combined band, Connecticut Valley Field Music, Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy Golden Phoenix, False Alarmers of Sphinx Shriners, Shriners Brass Band, Colchester Fife & Drum, Windsor Fife & Drum, and The Boys of Wexford.

Awards are given each year to Best Float, Best Overall Performance, Best Costume, Best Musical Performance, and Best Community Spirit.  Tracy Flater, executive director, and Darlene Zoller, artistic director, of the Playhouse on Park, will be judging and emceeing the parade. West Hartford Community TV will be airing the parade live on Comcast Channel 5.

During the parade, local troops of the Boy Scouts of America will have three locations in which they will be selling popcorn: Steben Auto Body, Playhouse on Park and Effie’s Restaurant. Near Steben Auto Body, 307 Park Rd., the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer will be hosting a bake sale. Stop by these locations and support the fundraising efforts of these nonprofit organizations.

The fun continues after the parade at Effie’s Restaurant, 91 Park Rd., where The Boys of Wexford will be singing Irish songs, sea shanties and folk music.

A parade of this magnitude involves a lot of volunteers and sponsors. A big “thank you” goes out to all of them. The 2016 sponsors are Effie’s Place Family Restaurant, Thomas Fahy Insurance Associates, Fresh Ink, Steben Auto Body & Glass, Sparkle West, LLC (Mr. Sparkle), Webster Bank, Farmington Bank, Westfarms, Open Arm’s Christian Ministries, West Hartford Chamber of Commerce, Roming Enterprises, West Hartford Travel Basketball, Joey’s of West Hartford, Doctor’s Express, ProHealth Express Care, Body & Sole Day Spa, Shop Rite, Molloy Funeral Home, Daly’s Package Store and Ed Connors Insurance.

Handicap parking is available at 120 Park Rd. Public restrooms are located at Effie’s Restaurant, 91 Park Rd.; A.C. Petersen Restaurant, 240 Park Rd.; Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Rd.; and Three Ladies Antiques, 328 Park Rd.

For more information, please call Renée McCue at 860-561-7521 or Tony Landino at 860-966-4582, or visit www.ParkRoadCT.com/events and Like Us on Facebook!

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