Published: October 03, 2008 01:28 pm            

Harvest Homecoming festival officially begins Saturday

Kathy Baker says organizing the Harvest Homecoming parade can be “overwhelming.” But she also knows the gratification she will experience when the clock strikes noon Saturday.

“It’s so rewarding when that first unit goes off,” said Baker, a vice president of the Harvest Homecoming committee in charge of the parade. “That’s when it all comes together.”

The annual parade, the official kickoff to the 41st annual Harvest Homecoming Festival, leaves New Albany High School at noon Saturday. It travels south on Vincennes Street to Spring, and down Spring before ending at Bank Street.

This year there are 116 units scheduled to participate in the parade. Baker said that number could change before the start of the event.

“We plan all year for this,” she said. “The applications go out in June and we get most of them back the first week of August. We are constantly shifting floats and people call with last minute changes.

“We have some new units this year. What is encouraging is the last three or four years we have gotten some new units into the parade.”

Baker said she would like to get more music — including marching bands — into the parade. Most of the area high school bands are unable to participate in the parade because of area competitions. This year New Albany High School’s band will be the only local school in the parade. As soon as band members finish the parade route, they will hop on buses and head to Cincinnati for competition.

“We are fortunate that the band director at New Albany works with us and makes it happen,” Baker said. “We hope we can get more bands and music into the parade. When I first started there were very few floats. We have increased that number and we are hoping to do the same with bands.”

Baker said putting a parade together was difficult when she first started several years ago. But now, she knows all the lingo.

“I had no concept how to organize a parade ... no idea,” she said. “I didn’t know parade terminology. It is organized chaos. It’s a lot of fun.”

No group has more fun than Shriners who have several units in the parade each year.

“People love the Shriners. We don’t have to tell them where to go, they just do it,” she said. “They love it. You can tell they have so much fun.”

Baker said she usually walks at the end of the parade to make sure everything is in order. She said most of the comments she hears are positive ones.

“People will say how much they enjoy it or how pretty it is,” she said.

The weather forecast for Saturday calls for sunny skies with temperatures around 70.

“We’re ready to go,” said Harvest Homecoming President Billy Greenwell. “Things are looking really good.”

• The Fiesta Rides, next to the floodwall, will be open from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

        

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