MAY DAY PARADE & REFRESHMENT GARDEN
Posted by Russell McMurchie
Port Coquitlam's 85th Rotary May Day Parade was a resounding success. Over 120 entries in the pardade (98 last year) kept the attention of all the spectaters for the entire parade. Starting at 7AM, Rotary members assembled at the city site to share a breakfast and coffee or juice. Last instructions were issued and the work started. Club members were situated on each of the streets holding parade participants. We were there to set up the streets to hold the entries until parade time.
When the parade started, Shaunessey Street participants went first with the other streets feeding in. The Rotary Wheel being pulled by Past President Mitchell Marcus with President Cheryl McKeever in the vehicle doing the Rotary "Wave" to the public. Rotarians went with their street groups to help maintain the parade in good order. When the parade was over, the Beer Garden was opened to parade participants and to the public after 2PM. The Music bands started later and ran until 9PM. Rotarians were on duty serving the public. The site was closed down at 9PM and all signs of the event were removed as the site was returned to a park property. The day was very successful. A great Rotarian thank you to the enormous amount of work Barrie Seaton put into making this parade happen. Bob Frew took the reins of calling potential participants with the committee he put together. We are proud that this was the best parade ever. Most of the club members participated in this event and we thank you all for the splendid effort.