Town and Kiwanis Club to Partner for Labor Day Weekend Parade
September date allows additional time for event planning and increased vaccinations
As life continues to move back towards normalcy, the Town continues to work with community partners to find creative ways to keep the Danville spirit alive. While prioritizing the need to maintain community safety, event planning continues to adjust accordingly. After discussions between the Town of Danville and the Kiwanis Club of the San Ramon Valley, we are excited to announce plans for a Labor Day Weekend Parade on Saturday, September 4, 2021, in downtown Danville. The event is being planned within State and County safety guidelines.
Always a popular summer event, the Kiwanis-Danville 4th of July Parade was recently canceled for 2021. This mutual decision by the event organizer, the Kiwanis Club of the San Ramon Valley and the Town, was driven by uncertainty regarding how or whether the State would be permitting large-scale outdoor events. The Kiwanis Club manages logistics and volunteers for the parade while the Town financially supports the event and provides resources and staffing. An event of this magnitude, which routinely draws around 40,000 spectators from around the Bay Area, requires months of planning and logistics including multi-jurisdictional police support, fire and emergency medical services, road closures and traffic management, as well as additional garbage receptacles, street sweepers, signage, and portable restrooms. In addition, the event organizers need to secure sponsors and enlist parade entries. With the proximity of the State’s June 15 reopening date to July 4th, a determination was made in early May, that there wasn’t enough time to safely plan a large-scale event for July 4th this year.
However, discussions between the Town and the Kiwanis Club continued, and, following the release of additional guidance by the California Department of Public Health on May 21, 2021, the decision was made to hold a Labor Day Parade in Danville in September 2021. The late summer date for this parade allows more time for the additional planning required to stage such a large event and increases the opportunity for more families to get vaccinated.
“We sincerely value our partnership with the Kiwanis and applaud their flexibility and energy in adapting to the current challenges of planning large events”, said Mayor Renee Morgan. She added, “The Town and the Kiwanis are working together to organize a safe event and we are thrilled that Danville will be able to have a parade this year for our community. We urge everyone to get vaccinated so that this event can be a safe and fun occasion and we look forward to the 4th of July parade returning next year.”
Kiwanian, Rob Goldstein said “We are absolutely excited to celebrate July 4th on September 4th, what’s a few months to ensure the safety of our community? We all deserve to have the best and biggest parade in the Bay Area in celebration of the reopening of our state and Kiwanis in partnership with the Town of Danville is excited to deliver the event. We can make this year’s Labor Day parade a LABOR of love for our great Town”. He added, “Kiwanis of the San Ramon Valley looks forward to the July 4, 2022 parade”.
Town staff continues to work with event organizers to monitor what activities are safe and realistic to implement and are hopeful that more events will return as the county continues to move forward. A number of other event organizers for community events have elected to cancel their events this year including the Memorial Day Ceremony, Danville Summerfest, Hot Summer Sundays Car Shows, and Danville d’Elegance Car Show.
As we continue to move forward, the latest information on all Town events can be found on the Town’s website calendar at www.danville.ca.gov/calendar.
For additional information, contact Lianna Adauto at (925) 314-3309 or ladauto@danville.ca.gov.
By Nicola Shihab, Danville Public Information Officer