Options for Independence Day and Graduate Recognition

The team met to address Town Council’s request that a parade be held for Independence Day and to revisit options for recognizing graduating seniors. Recommendations and options are outlined below.

Independence Day Options

Staff came up with two options from which Town Council may chose for a community-wide celebration of Independence Day to complement the house decorating contest proposed at the May 26 Town Council meeting. Both of these options have been developed to help ensure that we adhere to the Governor’s Executive orders, that we don’t create an unnecessary risk to public health and safety for staff or residents, and that the Purcellville Police Department and Town staff will be able to manage the logistics within the existing restrictions.

It is important to note that the Purcellville Volunteer Fire Company, which has sponsored the Independence Day Parade for decades, has told us that the current prohibitions preclude them from participating. They do not anticipate any change to the rules governing the activities that place the PVFC in a position of attracting groups of people.  Several other events they participate in have also been canceled to avoid the potential to gather large numbers of people which would violate social distancing rules and other necessary isolation practices. PVFC is maintaining strict practices to avoid any situation that could draw crowds and groups of people. Please see the attached letter from Bradley Quin, President of the PVFC that provides additional details about why they are not able to participate in the parade.

It is also important for Council to be aware that the Governor's Virginia Blueprint Forward Phase 2 Guidelines relative to social gatherings states the following: "Events that cannot restrict access to the general public should not take place." This and other guidelines for social gatherings during Phase 2 are on pages 5 - 8 of the attached. 

Option A—Limited Vehicles-Only Parade

One option the team proposed is a vehicles-only parade with a limited number of participants going through residential areas instead of along Main Street. The details are below.

• The parade will have a limited number of participants in vehicles. Participants will include:

•  Purcellville Police Department
• Town truck with Uncle Sam in the back
• Additional Town truck with banner recognizing graduating seniors
• Town Council, driving their own vehicles that they decorate
•  One member from each CCB, driving his or her own vehicle that he or she has decorated

•  Parade Line-Up will be at the Purcellville Maintenance Facility
•  The route would be based on the one used by the PVFC for the Santa Rides Through Town to go to residential areas throughout Town; due to time constraints, the entire “Santa Route” will not be able to be completed since the original route takes two separate nights for approximately 3 hours each.  Therefore, a shorter, modified route will be taken.
•  The parade would start at 10 a.m. and end at approximately 1 p.m.
•  Encourage people along the route to decorate their homes
•  Residents will be encouraged to watch from their front yards and not to gather anywhere else
•  Justifications and Considerations
  •  This will be a vehicle-only parade; walkers, bicycles, floats, etc. will not be permitted because of the duration of the route, to limit gatherings and to safely maneuver through residential areas
  •  Limiting the number of participants helps ensure that the parade line-up does not violate the Governor’s Executive Orders and that the parade itself is not too long given that the route will be significantly longer; it also helps reduce the possibility of fender benders
  • Going through residential areas rather than Main Street helps ensure that we will not encourage crowds to gather in that limited area while allowing as many residents as possible to see the parade from the safety of their homes
  • This route will help us manage the number of people who are drawn to Purcellville since other area Independence Day parades, Leesburg’s in particular, have been canceled due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic
  • The route and the concept are familiar to participants and to residents
  • Floats won’t be part of the parade because of the social distancing requirements and because large vehicles pulling trailers for floats will not be able to maneuver in some of the residential areas
  • Candy and giveaways will not be allowed to be distributed in any way due to the potential risk of spreading the virus and to ensure that children don’t run in groups to collect the goodies
  • Roads will not need to be closed for the parade, so we will not need to secure support from the Loudoun County Sheriff or State Troopers as we do for the traditional parade
  • Since Main Street will not be used or closed down, we will not need to complete the application and pay the fee to VDOT as we do when we hold the traditional parade

Option B—Reverse Parade Featuring Businesses

To engage the business community in Independence Day and help increase traffic to our local businesses, a second option the team proposed is a reverse parade to businesses that are decorated for Independence Day. If this option is selected, the event would be held on July 4 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. The steps are outlined below:

• Businesses that want to participate will complete a short online form so staff can include them on a “parade” map
• Town staff will create an online form for businesses to participate
• Town staff will reach out to businesses to encourage that they decorate their store fronts
• Businesses sign up to participate
• Town staff will prepare a map with the businesses that are decorated for Independence Day for people to visit on their own
• The map will be available online for people to download and print

Which ever of these two options Town Council selects for staff to implement will compliment the initial proposed activity to have residents decorate their own front yards and porches, apply to be included in a contest for the best decorated home and be part of a map of the decorated homes that people can tour on their own (like the holiday lights tour). The home with the best decorations will receive two additional vouchers.

Recognizing Graduating Seniors

Staff reached out to the principals of Loudoun Valley High School and Woodgrove High School with the ideas proposed at the last Town Council meeting. Both were appreciative of the ideas for the Town recognizing and congratulating seniors. It has also come to our attention that the Loudoun Valley High School Parents group has organized and scheduled a drive-by graduation caravan for Sunday, June 7 that will start at Franklin Park and end at LVHS. Since one of the high schools has already organized this effort, we recommend that we proceed with the original ideas proposed to recognize seniors with the addition of having a banner displayed on Independence Day, whether we proceed with the vehicles-only parade or the reverse parade with the businesses. These ideas are as follows:

• Post a message on the community sign in Town
• Select and promote a day and time (June 20 at noon) to encourage all Purcellville residents to join us on their lawns with instruments, pots and pans and make noise for the Class of 2020
• Post a message of congratulations on Town social media
• Create a video with congratulatory messages to the seniors from anyone in Purcellville and family members of graduating seniors, and share it on Town social media
  •  We will promote this through a press release and Facebook posts
  •  People will record their own messages (a time limitation will be provided) and send them to us
  •  All of the recordings will be spliced together to make the video
•  With permission from the two schools, share the videos they have created of the seniors via the Town’s social media