Waltham Rekindles Parade Tradition For 135th Anniversary

WALTHAM, MA — Thousands lined Moody Street as majestic floats and large groups of marchers slowly worked their way down the parade route. These parades were common in Waltham 30, 40, 50 years ago. Holidays, special events, a welcome-home celebration for the city's own William Keough in 1981 after he spent 444 days as a hostage in Iran, were all reasons for all corners of Waltham to come together for a few hours of good, old-fashioned fun.

On Sept. 22, as Waltham marks its 135th anniversary as a city with a parade and block party, the idea is to bring some of that nostalgia and pride back to a city that looks much different than it did when the parades became less and less frequent with the 1989 closing of Grover Cronin's Department Store — which hosted many of them.

"It's mostly bringing the diverse culture that Waltham has today into the parade tradition of the past," said Bill Hanley, treasurer of the Waltham 135th Committee. "Waltham in the 1950s was a small city that didn't have the diversity that it does now. We want to bring the elementary schools, the youth sports, the high school teams, the Latino community all together for a day instead of having them out on their own islands."

City Councilor Randy LeBlanc is the Waltham 135th Committee chair and driving force behind the parade effort that he said will include an antique car show at the former South Junior High School, live music, food from Waltham restaurants including Shopper's Cafe, a beer and wine tasting from Gordon's Liquors and children's activities in the parking lot of Brasco & Sons funeral home.

"I think a lot of people in Waltham do small events with their groups," LeBlanc said. "We want this to be something that everyone can do together. That is kind of the forgotten end of Moody Street so we are trying to showcase the businesses down there. What better way to end a parade than with a block party with a live band? We want it to be a Waltham-first event."

Hanley, who is also the president of Waltham Youth Baseball and a City Council candidate, said his involvement came out of the fact that he is one person in the city with experience putting on a parade of any kind.

"Randy approached me because we run the Little League parade each year," he said. "Obviously, the scale is much different between a Little League parade down Lake Street and one that closes Moody Street."

The plan for the Waltham 135th Parade is to have as many different organizations in the city as possible in succession. Hanley said the committee is encouraging groups to build their own floats through a stipend and "build-a-float-day" — on a September date to be determined — that will include support from local carpenters. Waltham 135th will provide trucks and trailers for the floats on parade day.

"It's not going to be the Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade (in New York City) that goes on for hours, but we do expect three-quarters of a mile of space filled," Hanley said.

Hanley said money is being raised for the event through sponsorships that range from $100 to $5,000 levels — which are being accepted through the Waltham 135th website. The hope is that the resulting day commemorating the year when Waltham went from a town to an official city will be a day where that city puts a new face on the small-town feel of yesteryear.

"These parades had big floats and the local celebrities would come out for them," Hanley said. "They were big community events and everyone looked forward to them. When Grover Cronin's store closed, the downtown area changed and the parades sort of faded away. Now that the downtown is booming again, we thought it was a good time to bring them back."