Saratoga News file photograph by Paul Myers
Saratoga High School drum major Laura Wallis gets ready to lead the band during last year's Community Parade.
By Carolyn Leal
High school bands will vie for prizes ranging upwards to $500 for the best band during Saratoga's Community Parade Sunday, Oct. 6. The parade steps out at 1:30 p.m., marching from the library to the village, down Saratoga Avenue to Big Basin Way, ending at Fourth Street.
Afterward, at Wildwood Park, Saratoga's 40th birthday will be celebrated with birthday cake, enough to serve 2,500, according to parade chairman Warren Lampshire.Past mayors of Saratoga will serve the birthday cake donated by local merchants. Some $4,000 in cash prizes will be presented to winners.
The parade will include bands from surrounding high schools, and Saratoga's former mayors will serve as grand marshals.
The parade exists because of an outpouring of volunteer support, Lampshire said. In particular, he singled out the Ham Radio Operators of Saratoga. "They handle total communications at the parade," he said, "including communications with sheriff's deputies, the first aid station and the parade staff."
There are 118 units participating in the parade, accounting for some 2,462 people, up from last year's 1,305 participants, Lampshire said. "We've gone from four bands to 10 bands."
The parade is sponsored by the city of Saratoga, Saratoga Rotary Club and the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 2, 1996.
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