No Fourth of July Parade in Loganville this year

Just five years after it was first held, there will be no longer be a Fourth of July Parade in Loganville – at least not in 2011.

According to City Manager Bill Jones, the city doesn’t see any chance to handle two parades a year. It has already picked up the Christmas Parade previously organized by the now-defunct Loganville Chamber of Commerce.

The Fourth of July Parade began in 2006 as an offshoot of the also now-defunct Citizen’s Advisory Committee. The parade committee was headed up by the husband and wife team of Patrick and Sharon Fenneran until last year when Patrick Fenneran lost his battle with leukemia just a month shy of the event. Despite the loss, Sharon Fenneran and the rest of the committee actively worked the 2010 parade, but there hasn’t been much of a rush for anyone to pick it up this year.

Members of the did approach the city to see about taking it on, and the Loganville Lions Club also made enquiries, but in the current economy the city wasn’t happy about paying city employees to work July 4. Jones said the city also wasn’t prepared to give the usual break on police services to close off roads.

“We suggested they contact the to see if they would take it on, but we just don’t believe we should be using taxpayers' money for another parade,” Jones said.

Sharon Fenneran said although she can’t help feeling a little guilty about not taking it on again, she has decided to sit this one out.

“When Patrick and I took on the task of producing the Fourth of July Parade years ago, we said we’d give it five years and then we would pass it on,” she said. “I had always hoped it would work out that way and 2010 was year five for us. Either way, it would be time to take a much-needed break.”

With the city not wanting to spend the money, it would mean more sponsorship money would have to be raised and that too would be difficult in the current economy. Also, the parade committee always began working on the following year’s parade as soon as the current one was over - that didn’t happen in 2010. With less than three months to go, it would be almost impossible for anyone to pull it together in time for a Fourth of July parade in Loganville this year.

Sharon Fenneran, however, is hopeful it won’t go away forever.

“Who knows, maybe it can be picked up again next year – but only if people want a parade. That was why we did it in the first place,” she said. “The parade is an amazing opportunity to support the many men and women, past and present, who give their lives to ensure our freedoms. It was an honor to be able to do that for five years.”

She said when it began to look like it wouldn't happen, many were concerned about “Patrick’s Legacy,” but that was not how she saw it at all.

“I’ve always been of the mindset that Patrick’s Legacy is his family, his children, his memory – not a parade,” she said. “If the people of Loganville feel it’s important to honor our military and our country, that is the reason to have a parade – not because the guy who helped put it on for five years died. They have to want a parade and they have to want it for the right reasons.”