The 46th annual Cochrane Labour Day Parade will be taking place Sept. 1 with this year’s theme centered on celebrating our Olympians and Paralympians.
Brooks Tower is the acting chair of the parade and said that this year they have put a considerable amount of time into augmenting the pre-parade.
Tower said pre-parade activities would start around 9 a.m. and include coffee stations, pony rides, a pancake breakfast and the Fun Run.
The Fun Run begins at 9:45 a.m. and will be lead by Olympians Justin Snith and Tristan Walker, who competed in luge in Sochi, Russia during the Winter Olympics. Walker is from Cochrane and Snith from Calgary. People are invited to run or walk the parade route with Snith and Walker before the parade begins.
“Most runners don’t ever run before crowds of thousands, so this will be something that we hope will be a memorable experience for the Fun Run participants,” said Tower.
Walker and Snith are the official marshals of the parade.
The Canadian luge team placed fourth in three of the four events at Sochi 2014 and Walker was part of two of those events.
“It’s an honour,” said Walker of being asked to be a marshal. “The Cochrane community has been so supportive to me over the years.”
Walker said that although he has never been to the parade before, he couldn’t wait to be a part of it.
The actual parade begins at 10:30 a.m. and will be around two hours long. Registration for the parade closed July 31 and Brooks said that the floats are the crown jewels of the parade each year.
“The floats are always a very special part of the parade,” Tower said.
According to the parade website, the parade will begin at the Burnco Site and will march down River Avenue and Main Street, before crossing to Railway Street via Fifth Avenue, and south on Centre Avenue.
Towers said with crowds averaging over 12,000 every year, they are expecting another great parade this year.
“It ties together Cochrane’s past, present and future in one great big bundle of community happiness,” he said. “It’s lovely and accessible to all. It’s a terrific community gathering and experience.”
For more information visit cochraneparade.com.
