The Cloverdale Rodeo Parade has shrunk a bit this year, says Paul Orazietti, but it’s still healthy.
“Our parade is maintaining itself despite what I’m hearing from other communities,” he said.
Orazietti, the executive director of the Cloverdale BIA, said the Cloverdale Rodeo Parade is doing all right, even though he’s got fewer floats. He said they’ll have about 25 per cent fewer entries than last year.
He noted the cost to rent trucks for many groups has skyrocketed and blasted some of the charity-group entries right out of their parade orbits.
“From what I’m hearing, they’re finding it expensive to get a truck in,” explained Orazietti. “In a lot of cases, groups are looking for a little bit of an honorarium to help offset costs.”
He said the Cloverdale Rodeo Parade, which is organized by the BIA, still has a lot of support from many dedicated and loyal paraders.
“We have a solid base of people. When you look at it from that perspective, every year there’s enough variety there for people to say, ‘Oh! This is good.’ People might not like a specific hot rod, but I’ve got 16 of them. I’ve got dune buggies coming. There’s a lot of variety and some neat vehicles.”
Orazietti said visitors can expect to see a lot different floats/paraders, including: marching bands, dance groups, clowns, horses, classic hot rods, sports clubs, non-profit organizations, charities, community groups, and musical acts.
Orazietti noted the route length has been cut as well. And 60th Avenue in front of Elements Casino has been completely removed from the parade course.
“The parade route has been shortened by about a third,” he said. “It’s gone from 6,200 feet to about 3,500 feet.”
He explained the new route frees up 60th Avenue and will allow for a better movement of fair- and rodeo-goers in and out of the Cloverdale Fairgrounds, by keeping access to the parking lot open.
Orazietti said he expects thousands of people to make their way to the streets of downtown Cloverdale for the parade.
The 2024 Cloverdale Rodeo Parade will start a 10 a.m May 18 from the corner of 177B Street and Highway 10. It will wind its way west on No. 10 and turn up 176th Street. The parade will then turn east on 58 Avenue and terminate at 177B Street.
“The parade has always been a warm-up act for the rodeo,” said Orazietti. “When you look at it, it always has the largest audience, of any moment in time. So the parade itself is literally the largest gathering of people who come to the rodeo and fair over the course of the weekend.
“With that, we are trying to raise the community’s spirit and you can do that with things like (a parade).”
This year marks the 76th Cloverdale Rodeo and the 133rd Country Fair.
For more info, visit cloverdalerodeo.com and cloverdalebia.com.