The Clarkston Labor Day parade will include lots of tradition, but will point to the future as well.
As it has since 1940, the parade is hosted by Clarkston Rotary Club. It will be led by the American Legion Post 377.
‘We’ll have the Clarkston marching band and Clarkston Chiefs football team,? said Rotarian Judy Livingston. ‘Dale Ryan (Clarkston’s football game announcer) will be announcing.?
The theme this year is ‘Celebrate Clarkston,? its past and future, Livingston said.
Rotary invites children to march as parade marshalls this year.
‘They’re the future of Clarskton,? Livingston said. ‘The grand marshall is usually an adult who rides in a convertible, or in the Christmas parade, it’ll be Santa ? the children will be our Santa.?
All children will be welcome to march, she said.
Parade registration begins 8 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 3, at Renaissance High School on Waldon Road.
Decorated bicycle contest begins at 9:30 a.m., with three winners to be chosen at 9:45 a.m. Winners will receive prizes and will be announced during the parade.
‘They show children’s creativity,? Livingston said. ‘They can be futuristic. They can be historic, or patriotic, any number of ways they could be decorated.?
The parade begins at 10 a.m. at Renaissance High, continuing down Church Street to Main Street. At Main, it will turn right and proceed through downtown Clarkston, then turn left on Miller Road and end at St. Daniel’s Catholic Church parking lot at the corner of Holcomb and Miller roads.
Members of the Clarkston Rotary Club will meet registrants to line them up, and will be along the parade route.
Rotary clowns will march, along with other Clarkston ‘clowns,? adult or children, who have been invited to join in.
It is not too late to register for the parade, Livingston said.
Applications are online at clarkstonrotary.org, or can be picked
up at the Clarkston Chamber of Commerce office, the Independence Township Fire Department on Citation Drive or the Clarkston Village offices on Depot Road.
For more information, call Joel DeLong at 248-625-9741 or e-mail him at mindyjoel@netscape.net.