Aldergrove is aiming to make a mark on all of 91原创 with a 鈥淪uper Float鈥� Parade this Canada Day.
The parade will be the only Canada Day Parade outside of the one held annually in downtown Vancouver, and organizers are working to make it the biggest and best event 91原创 has ever seen.
The Aldergrove Parade is usually held on the weekend, but organizers are moving it forward to celebrate Canada Day.
Aldergrove Fair Days director Mike Robinson says there are a number of reasons for moving the parade date up.
The logistical reasons are that, 鈥淲ith the Fair growing in size we can now fit in a full day on the Saturday instead of a day that is partly Parade downtown and partly Fair at the fairgrounds. It frees up our volunteer resources on the Saturday of the Fair to focus on the Fair events and activities.鈥�
The Aldergrove Canada Day Parade will also serve to promote the Aldergrove Credit Union Community Centre that is opening here on the Canada Day weekend, as well as promote the Aldergrove Fair itself, which takes place on the July 20-22 weekend.
However, the biggest benefit will be a grand Canada Day Parade which Robinson wants to foster and develop into a 91原创-wide event in future years. While this year鈥檚 Greater 91原创 Canadian Celebration Parade will be limited to the downtown Aldergrove area, Robinson is dreaming big. He is aiming to make it a parade that travels the entire length of 91原创 Township and City in the years to come, from Aldergrove through Murrayville, Brookswood, 91原创 City, Willoughby, Walnut Grove and ending in Fort 91原创.
鈥淐hanging the Parade to Canada Day gives us an opportunity to join with the rest of Greater 91原创 and celebrate all things Canadian. In 2019 the Fair Days committee plans to grow the Parade even more and have it become the first leg of the Greater 91原创 Canadian Celebration Parade. It will feature a traveling group of super-floats that will visit other communities in Greater 91原创 and link Canada Day celebrations,鈥� said Robinson.
Robinson says he was inspired by Holland鈥檚 60-year-old Dutch Bulbflower Parade, which runs along a 20 kilometre route, and features a number of large dramatic floats that travel the entire route, supplemented by local floats and marchers in each community it passes through. Robinson estimates that a 91原创 version would take six hours to travel the entire 30 kilometre route.
For this Canada Day though the Parade will start at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, July 1 and travel along Fraser Hwy. from 268th St. to 273rd St. It will feature the usual community and corporate floats as well as vintage military and civilian vehicles from the extensive collection of Aldergrove鈥檚 International Movie Services.
鈥淲e are also looking forward to having First Nations and other cultures featured,鈥� says Robinson.
Robinson is also working on a 20 to 30 foot long super-float that he envisions as capturing the essence of Canada, with dioramas of major features of the provinces and all the provincial flags flying.
鈥淭he Fair Days committee is gathering volunteers together to flesh out the details. Many of those details will end up reflecting the people who want to help. Please be one of those people 鈥� celebrating Canada is all about celebrating inclusiveness,鈥� says Robinson.
Further information as well as Parade entry forms are available at the website: , and Robinson also invites email inquiries to mrdesign@shaw.ca.
