This year, the Volks Folks will once again participate in the Holiday Starlight Parade on Saturday, December 8th at 6:00 PM. This event is presented by Volkswagen Chattanooga.

The parade will begin at 5th and Market Street, crossing in front of the Tennessee Aquarium on 2nd Street before taking a left on Broad Street and continuing south and disbanding at 5th and Broad. Following the parade will be the Lighted Boat Parade at Ross' Landing.

This sounds fun, I will ask the fam if they would like to go.   

These are the parade rules and regulations.

2012 Holiday Starlight Parade
Volkswagen Chattanooga Presenting Sponsor

GENERAL RULES & REGULATIONS

This parade is televised, so please look your best! Channel 3 will be taping the parade in its entirety and broadcasting it on December 15 at 1:00 pm.

Application Deadline: Please return your completed application by November 23, 2012.

Start Time: The parade will begin promptly at 6:00 pm, December 8, 2012.

Theme: All units must include lights as part of their decoration.

Parade Assembly: Staging at Market Street moving south from Fifth Street.  Parking for your vehicles will be at St. Barnabas Home on Sixth Street and the back parking lot of St. Paul’s Church accessed through St. Barnabas’s parking lot. Entries will be assigned a specific arrival time when the lineup order has been confirmed.

Parade Route: At 6 pm, the parade will start at 5th Street, proceed north on Market Street, continuing left on Aquarium Way (Second Street) and returning south in the southbound lane of Broad Street.

Commercial Entries: All commercial entries will be charged a $300 admission fee and will be provided a 4’ x 8’ banner. Artwork for the banner will be designed by Chattanooga Presents and will have your company name and logo that you will supply but cannot include company website or telephone information. No other banners or signs are allowed.  Commercial Entries must be floats, not just walking units or decorated cars or trucks.

No Stopping Along Parade Route: Units are not allowed to stop during the parade route. We must maintain an equal distance of 50 feet between each unit throughout the parade.  The streets are closed, there is no need to stop at cross streets or traffic lights.

Chaperones: A maximum of eight chaperones are allowed per unit. Chaperones must walk on the right, rear side of the unit.

Line Up: The parade order shall be assigned by the parade committee.

Notification of Acceptance: Applicants approved by the parade committee will be notified on November 26, 2012. Additional information on the parade will be distributed to all accepted participants.

Limit of Entries: There will be a limit of two floats per organization and 10 cars (or rolling units) per club.

Theme: Since Santa Claus will be featured on the finale float, no other unit will be allowed to feature a live Mr. Claus in their entry.

Dress Code: Parade units look their best when everyone is dressed alike. If your group has uniforms, we request that you wear them for a unified appearance.  

Minimum Age Requirements: There is no minimum age requirement for participants riding on a float. Minimum age requirement for walking units will be 12 years old. This is a liability issue.

Signage: All participants should have a visible sign for identification.

Other Information: The throwing of objects from the parade is strictly prohibited. This is to protect children from running into the parade route and endangering themselves. However handing out trinkets or wrapped candy is acceptable.

Horses: Horses in the parade should have marched in a previous parade or be familiar with crowds. We require that horses wear diapers.
 
Not Accepted: No political entries are allowed, nor are vehicles without appropriate decorations. (Please refer to the enclosed samples of what is and what is not acceptable decoration for a car or vehicle entry.) Cars which “gun” their engines and squeal tires are also not acceptable, for safety reasons. Any beauty queens must be featured on float entries and not just riding on the back of a regular car or truck.

Chattanooga Presents provides no accidental injury or property damage insurance coverage for participants.

Poster for the event.

When and where are we meeting up to do this? I haven't received any confirmation from the organizers that we are confirmed...but I think we should just show up anyways. Last year we met up at the Coker Tire/Honest Charley parking lot at 3:45 and cruised to the parade lineup spot together. Do we want to do that again?

Alright, we've been assigned group number 33. That means our line-up time is 4:00 PM. Line-up is on Market St between 5th and MLK Boulevard. It looks like if we meet up at the Coker parking lot at 3:45 we can depart together and be at the meeting point on time. So let's just do that. I've attached a map, 'A' is the meetup point and then at 3:45 we will move to the lineup area on Market St (the blue shaded area).

Sound good for everyone?

We will be there. Finally got a windshield in the 66.

I'm not going to make this one either.  We have some company coming in this eveing.