Council Tables Vote On Permit For Newtown Holiday Parade

NEWTOWN BOROUGH, PA — Social media hype over the size and scope of this year’s Holiday Parade prompted the borough council on Wednesday to table approval of a special events application for the parade.

The council is expected to take up the application again at a meeting in early September when it has a chance to meet and question the organizers and satisfy its concerns over the scale of what’s being planned.

The parade is organized by the Newtown Business Association and sponsored this year by the Newtown Athletic Club and Jim Worthington. They are planning a much larger event, nearly doubling the number of units from 52 to over 100.

They’ve also been marketing it on social media as “the biggest small town holiday parade in the country.”

Led by the Philly Phanatic, the parade will be stepping off at 11 a.m. and lasting longer, concluding with live performances in Newtown Township. Parades in the past have stepped off at 2 p.m.

“They are going to have some pretty decent-sized Macy’s Day floats,” reported Council President Emily Heinz, who spoke with the parade organizers.“They’re having a lot of licensed characters that cost money, like Superman and Disney characters.

“They are also hoping to get a celebrity to ride in the parade and sing the National Anthem,” said Heinz. “That’s my main concern. Is this someone who’s going to have everyone in a 30-mile radius drive to Newtown to see because we can’t handle that parking situation.”

Council members said they will be seeking assurances from the parade organizers in September that they will be able to handle the size and scope of the event.

Councilman Kris Bauman also wants to know if the NBA has a policy with regard to parade participants.

“I just want to make sure as it gets bigger and bigger that there’s nothing that will be particularly objectionable,” he said. “Obviously, it sounds like a great parade, but hopefully they have some policy, and it would be helpful to know what that is.”

Traffic and crowd control for the parade will be provided by the Newtown Borough and Newtown Township police departments and will be paid for by the NBA.

The parade route remains the same, stepping off at the Stocking Works on South State Street, marching north on State Street to Washington, west on Washington to Sycamore Street and then north on Sycamore to Durham Road.