Parade Rules and Information

Please refer to the Lineup and Staging Area page for your specific position.

The Crescent and South Park Street (to the parking lot entrance) are reserved for staging the automotive division and are not to be used as an access route to the assembly area by other vehicles and marching groups.

Please assemble your entry at the location designated in the lineup. Park all parade vehicles close to the curb and check in with your serial marshal.  The marshals will be wearing red Committee shirts.   After buses, trucks and other non-parade vehicles are unloaded, they should proceed to Central Avenue (near Edgemont Park) to wait your arrival at the end of the parade route.

The parade will start at 11:00am sharp, rain or shine.  The parade route is 1.67 miles long and ends 50 yards beyond the reviewing stand, Edgemont Memorial Park.

Float contest entries must be in line by 9:30am for judging.  All other units should assemble at 10:00am.  Ranks will be closed and prepared for march at 10:30am.  Late arrivals will be placed at the end of the parade.

Volunteer Marching Groups will be judged in the line-of-march on Bloomfield Avenue in front of the Clairidge Theatre.

Bands are expected to play on South Fullerton Avenue, Bloomfield Avenue, Watchung Avenue, Valley Road (approaching the reviewing stand), and several times along Midland Avenue.  A limited repertoire will pose no problem because your audience changes.

Rest room facilities and drinking water will be available at the assembly area in the United Way Building, 60 South Fullerton Avenue, and in the Edgemont Park Shelter House at the end of the parade route.  It is suggested that each unit also carry a container of drinking water for its member to use en route.  Refreshments can be purchased at Edgemont Park.

Do not distribute paper handouts along the parade route.  Do not even bring them with you.  Most of the paper winds up on the streets and yards and the Parade Committee gets blamed for the litter.

Do not delay the forward progress of the parade for the purpose of performing.  There will be ample opportunity for drill teams and dance groups to entertain in Edgemont Park following the parade.

Do not close in on the preceding unit.   Maintain an interval of 25 yards (75 feet).  If the unit ahead must stop, you stop.  Proceed immediately, however, when the column starts to move.

Do not use vehicle horns or sirens.   They prevent musical groups from being heard.

Do not cover the radiator of your vehicle with signs or materials.  This will cause overheating.

Bicycles are not permitted in the parade.

Safety ropes or rails are mandatory if passengers are aboard floats or open truck beds.

The Pound Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and the Fourth of July Committee request that live animals not be used in the parade (either walking or on display).

Since the insurance situation is too uncertain, the Montclair Fourth of July Committee, collectively and individually, disclaims any responsibility for accidents that may occur on July 5th in the staging area while the parade is being lined up, in the parade line of march, and at Edgemont Park and Woodman Field during Committee-sponsored activities.