When you think of the 4th of July, what comes to mind? Some of the events that come to mind are fireworks, parades and community celebrations. For volunteers on the Champaign County Freedom Celebration Committee, these events have been consuming their minds for the past year! The Champaign County Freedom Celebration Committee (CCFCC) works to plan the Independence Day celebration each year. The Committee is broken into many subcommittees that handle various aspects of the celebration.
One subcommittee is the Parade Float Committee. This committee handles everything about the parade floats. Over the past year they have worked diligently to generate float participation and make this year’s parade bigger and better-than-ever. The committee has worked hard to gain community interest in the parade because in years past the parade has been dying off. “We had plenty of trucks and cars in our parade, but if you think about what the audience loves to see, it’s floats and bands and those numbers were down. We decided to add a float committee whose goal is to increase float participation”, said Ginny Schlorff, CCFCC Chairwoman.
The biggest accomplishment, and challenge, that the Parade Float Committee has overcome this year is the addition of parade balloons to the parade. “We didn’t know parade balloons would be such a big job. It seemed like every time we took a step forward to get the balloons, we took two steps back. It has been frustrating, but it will definitely be worth it in the end”, said Janet Ray, CCFCC Parade Float Co-Chair. The balloons were a big job indeed! The committee has had issues with finding a business to bring the balloons to the parade, rising costs in helium to fill the balloons and ensuring the balloons will not be too large to bring down the streets of the parade route. “We have found a vendor that is great to work with and is bringing cold air balloons for us to use in our parade. Also, we have reached an agreement with the city and will be able to use the Kermit The Frog balloon in the parade. This will be a main attraction for the parade and we hope to draw a lot of excitement”, said Susan Ward, CCFCC Parade Float Co-Chair.
The CCFC Parade Committee is working to put the final touches on parade floats. “The committee is also charged with taking care of the CCFC floats for grand marshal, our corporate sponsor floats and our committee float. That could be build floats or purchase them, the float committee decides that part”, said Ginny Schlorff, CCFCC Chairwoman.
The CCFC Parade went off without a hitch July 4, 2012! The Committee is relieved and couldn’t have been prouder of the work they put into this year’s event. The public is a-buzz about all of the great, new floats the parade contained and they cannot wait to see what next year’s event will include.
