It’s all about teamwork

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- They cleared some hurdles in planning this year’s

Fourth of July parade, and now members of the parade’s board say they are

looking forward to a successful event.

Pat Stier, Fourth of July parade board president, said the board’s seven

members have worked well together in dealing with some big issues,

including a proposal to change the route and a debate over whether an

elephant should be allowed to walk in the event.

Last month, the City Council voted 4 to 3 to reject the route change,

which would have had the event start on Pacific Coast Highway instead of

its regular starting point on Main Street, between Acacia and Clay

avenues. It also would have taken participants through Downtown, past

bars where drunks have clashed with police in previous years.

Councilman Tom Harman, who voted against changing the route, said he was

concerned that bar patrons with too many beers and not enough common

sense might throw objects at parade participants.

Stier said the board hoped a route change would attract more sponsors and

help businesses in the Downtown area.

“I think the council needed more time to look into it, and that they were

a little cautious,” she said.

The new route also would have given Internet and local cable television

viewers a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, said Margie Bunten, a spokeswoman

for the parade board and director of public relations at Golden West

College. “It would make it different from any other [previous] parade on

Main Street,” she said.

The board plans to bring the route changing issue back to the council

next year, Stier said.

As for the elephant, which would have lumbered along the route at a cost

of $2,000, that idea was dropped when residents and animal rights

activists voiced objections.

Pachyderms have appeared in the parade, now celebrating its 96th year,

twice in its history -- most recently in 1998, Stier said.

Through it all, Stier said the board worked well as a team this year, and

she has high hopes for 2001. On the agenda: Stier said the board, which

meets 11 months out of the year, plans to improve next year’s parade by

increasing the number of decorative floats and encouraging more local

organizations to participate.