St Joseph's Day parade

Re: St Joseph's Day parade

• Napaliebalous member

  

  February 2011 edited December 2011

  I went to the parade 3 years ago and it lasts around 3 hours (Starts at 6ish -9ish). I don't know how you could follow behind the parade, since at the end its usually a line of police cars and street sweepers. What I would be more worried about is how your guest are getting to the venue. They usually block off the street a few hours before parades and the hotel is right on the parade route. You may have already worked that out with the hotel (or everyone may be staying there), but we parked by the riverwalk and walked to the parade when we went.
  
  I think you're best bet might be to call the venue and ask what others have done in the past in regards to the second line.
  

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• smither89

  

  February 2011 edited December 2011

  Gosh, this is a tough one.  I don't envy you this one.  Combined with the parade noise during your ceremony, this is quite the pickle.
  
  I'm sorry, but I don't think there is any chance the parade will be cleared by the time you are second-lining.  While you are located near the start of the parade, which is the fastest spot, as it is not plagues by all the various potential stops and snafus along the way, it still does take at least an hour for the parade to go through.  The cop cars and street cleaners follow directly behind, and swiftly, so they are not the timing dealbreaker.  The parade itself is.  And an hour is being generous and taking a wild chance.  After all, there are often mechanical problems at the very start of the parade, and it could be delayed, leaving you completely screwed if you were counting on it being gone by a certain time.
  
  You are mainly stymied by the "must go with the flow of traffic" rule for second lines.  IF you got the police to waive that requirement, due to the parade, you MAY be able to pull this off.  Regardless, I would say the people you really need to be talking to are the police, since you need to contact them for a permit anyway.  They will only give you a permit if they know the road will be cleared, so they are the only judge you need for what time the parade will no longer be a problem.
  

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• Chelsey504 member

  

  February 2011 edited December 2011

  Thanks for the support and suggestions today ladies. I talked to my coordinator at the St Louis today and she did not seem too concerned. I'm still nervous about how this is all gong to work out, but not freaking anymore.

  
  

  As for guests and vendors getting to the hotel - they don't block of the street till right before the parade, so I think that will be ok and we will just encourage everyone to come early and leave extra time. 

  
  

  For the noise, the hotel is about halfway along the parade route, so hopefully the ceremony (which is pretty short), should be down before the parade gets out front. 

  
  

  Planning to have FI's dad call Officer Powers tomorrow to talk about the 2d line. If worse comes to worse, we'll just bring guests outside and watch the parade go by for a little while instead of parading ourselves. We're having a lot of OOT ppl, so I think they would get a kick out of it either way. 

  
  

  I'll post another update after we see what Officer Powers has to say!

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• Chelsey504 member

  

  February 2011 edited December 2011

  Kiss -- that's great Royal Orleans worked with you and the guests nicely. Most of our wedding party and immediate family are staying at the St Louis Hotel so we won't have any problems getting there on time. We're going to spread the word to guests to park away from the parade route and come early so hopefully ppl won't get stuck. 

  
  

  FI's dad talked to Officer Powers today and he said that if we can get out and start the 2d line before 630, we should be able to in front of the parade and it will work smoothly. 

  
  

  Fingers crossed!

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