Birthday, teacher, and even memorial parades have been a common sight in Airdrie over the past few weeks.

Several Airdrie schools have held parades so teachers could wave to their students and the 'Airdrie Birthday Parade' has been hitting the streets every Saturday evening to help local kids and seniors celebrate.

The City of Airdrie says they want to support the creative ways people are celebrating special events while balancing the need to keep the community safe.

"We support these events as they demonstrate Airdrie's great community spirit," says Lynn Mackenzie, Municipal Enforcement Team Leader. She says they just want to issue some reminders for parade participants.

Municipal Enforcement has released the following guidelines for these 'Special Roadway Events':

For events with 15 vehicles or less:

  • During special roadway events, including birthday and teacher parades, drivers must obey all rules of the road.
  • Drivers should not stop or slow down in front of residences in such a way that it impedes traffic lanes.
  • Municipal Enforcement asks noise be kept to a minimum and that events occur between the hours of 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.

For events with more than 15 vehicles:

  • The organizer must fill out an application for a parade permit.
  • Same rules and guidelines apply as events with less than 15 vehicles (see above).
  • Enforcement support may be required/requested. If this is not possible due to timeframe of application and/or limited enforcement resources, then the application will be denied and alternatives given, such as reducing the number of vehicles to 15 or less or splitting the group in two.

Typically, a parade permit must be submitted to the City of Airdrie Traffic Advisory Committee at least six weeks prior to the event. However, the city says the will make every attempt to accommodate shorter time frames when possible. The online parade permit form, which can be found HERE, asks that the application be completed at least 14 days prior to the intended parade date.

Mackenzie says for these 'Special Roadway Events' there will not be a cost associated with obtaining a parade permit.

However, she advises that any violation of the Traffic Safety Act is a ticketable offense. In addition, there is a $100 fine for holding a parade/special roadway event without a permit and/or failing to comply with conditions of the parade permit.

"RCMP and Municipal Enforcement would always choose to educate prior to taking any type of enforcement action with something like this, because it's about the spirit of the community and doing something really good and positive in a very difficult time."

Mackenzie says they have only received a few complaints regarding the community parades.

"In general I think the whole community has embraced them and they're great for the community," says Mackenzie.

 

Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com