Entries needed for 2019 parade

Longtime Fandangle Parade chairman John Ayers is encouraging local businesses, organizations, and individuals to start planning their 2019 entries.

This year’s parade is set for 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 22, in downtown Albany.

“It’s time to start planning the parade,” Ayers said. “We’d like organizations and individuals to start thinking about their parade entries.”

Ayers, along with Ragan Riley and Shannon Leech, will serve as Fandangle Parade co-chairs this year. 

“This will be my last year to be on the committee,” said Ayers. “I’ll be showing Ragan and Shannon the ropes this year, and they will be in charge next year.”

Ayers has served as the Fandangle Parade chairman for about 30 years, he said.

“But I’ve got a bunch of grandkids now, and I want to be in the parade with them,” said Ayers. “It’s time to pass the torch.”

Ayers said that Nema Westmoreland and Bob Echols asked him to serve on the parade committee about 30 years ago, and he agreed to help.

“They handed me a box full of paperwork, and that was it,” Ayers said. “I was the entire committee.”

In the years since, Ayers or his daughter Cori Bezner have organized the annual event with the assistance of other volunteers.

Entries

For information about entering the parade or sponsoring a float, contact the Fandangle office at 762-3838.

Entry in the parade is free, and forms can be mailed to participants or picked up at the Fandangle office. 

“It is helpful to us to get the entries in ahead of time, but we will take entries right up to parade time,” Ayers said. “Awards will be given to first through third place winners in several cate-gories.”

Winners will be announced at the Prairie Theater shortly before the start of Fandangle on June 22, the day of the parade.

“We would like to try to build up our local floats again,” said Ayers. “I am hopeful that locals will put in several floats. It really makes the parade when we have a lot of involvement from Shackelford residents.”

The parade lines up on the back streets by the elementary school, makes it way down Main Street through downtown, circles the Courthouse Square, and then heads back to the staging area.

“It’s a little hot when we line up, but then the parade starts and it’s so much fun that you have a great time,” said Ayers.