On Parade! The Organizer's Guide to Planning Parades and Floats

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

Parades may be anything from small civic affairs in tiny hamlets to
spectacles such as the Calgary Stampede, the Carnaval de Québec, or
Toronto’s Santa Clause Parade; and all, from largest to least, require
an enormous amount of organization and at least a year’s lead time.

On Parade! provides all the information anyone could possibly need, not
only in obvious areas such as parade routes, construction of floats, and
the necessary permits, but also in matters that might not even occur
(until too late) to the first-timer: adequate insurance, including
public liability; rules for all participants about suitability of
floats, clothing, and displays, and warnings about throwing anything
into the crowd (a sure-fire invitation to accidents and lawsuits);
safety precautions for drivers, including proper venting of all cabs and
proper sightlines; safety harnesses for everyone riding on floats; which
materials to use and which to avoid (such as dissolving tissue paper),
and so on. There must be meticulous organization. Plans must include
everyone from the Grand Marshal to the walkers who precede the floats
checking for stray kids and animals, as well as the essential sanitation
crew.

Anyone who may ever even think of becoming involved in producing a
parade should park this authoritative little volume right next to the
dictionary.