A Parade Safety Issue

To the Editor:

I recently moved to Newtown and so far I’m loving it.

We made a day out of Labor Day with our extended family by starting the day reviewing the wonderful parade. I loved the bands and all of the entries and even the antics of the local townsfolk razzing their friends and neighbors who were marching.

What I found to be disturbing, however, is the practice of tossing candy out to the crowd. We witnessed a young boy diving in front of a tractor tire to get what he thought was a piece of candy. It was actually a candy wrapper from some other child’s litter and his mom snatched him up as quick as he drove. Thank God she was up on her feet trying to control him of his sugar frenzy.

One little boy was so focused on grabbing as much candy as possible he also dove and retrieved a little girl’s flip flop that fell off her foot as she rode in one of the many wonderful floats. It took several seconds for him to realize he did not have an actual treasure and it was quite comical to witness when he actually realized what he caught. The fact of the matter is the parade is wonderful on it’s own merit and the distribution of candy should be a safety concern for future parades.

The candy mongers were an annoyance to many of the older folks sitting peacefully in their folding chairs. They tried to watch the parade through the horde of candy-hungry kids who consistently tried to get as close to the parade as possible.

I feel like an outsider writing this as candy distribution may be a longstanding Newtown tradition, but what I witnessed is a safety issue and is a legitimate concern. Think about how the parade will be received in the event there is an accident or tragedy?

Solutions?

1. Cut out the candy completely.

2. Limit it only to adults. Have them toss it behind the crowd so no one will rush toward the parade vehicles. (So many young kids tried to toss out candy but it only fell close to the vehicle they rode in making it even more dangerous.)

Rich Broderick

41 Orchard Hill Road, Newtown                            September 16, 2005