• If you’re in the parade, please keep all creativity and content positive for all by avoiding scary, inappropriate, divisive, or disrespectful content that might spoil anyone’s fun. With over 33 years of presenting these parades, people know and expect our parade to be a fun family-friendly event.  With often thousands of diverse attendees ranging in ages from 1 month to 101+, we work hard  to continue making sure everyone has the best, safe, fun, and enjoyable Reisterstown Festival Parade every year. While inappropriate content is extremely rare, it is important to make sure all participants understand there are boundaries on parade content, and rules will be enforced.  Any Festival Committee member with the official Staff T-shirt (and of course local law-enforcement) has full authority to stop, temporarily hold aside, and request removal of any parade content that is, or might be offensive or disturbing based on their sole judgment, observed negative reactions, or based on credible attendee complaints.

• If a participant cannot or does not remove or modify the concerning content to the Staff Member’s satisfaction, the participant will be required to stay out of the parade line, forfeiting their original spot if necessary, and must wait for and receive the Parade Coordinator’s or Festival President’s (or their directly authorized designee) approval to continue in the parade. The wait for the final decision on the content could be very short, but it may not be- this cannot be guaranteed – it will take as long as necessary for an authorized Festival Officer to arrive, review the issue, and make a final decision.

• Due to fixed and often unpredictable high priority issues and duties, plus the inherent transportation complexities during the Parade (closed roads, large crowds, police restrictions, a parade area over 1.5 miles long and large Park (dozens of acres) where they may and when/where the participant is waiting, we regret that we cannot guarantee the wait will be before the parade’s end time.  To avoid this, participant’s best and perhaps only option may be to modify or remove the concerning content.

• We regret any potential inconvenience but we hope you understand that as a public family event, we monitor for potentially inappropriate or offensive parade content.

• All participating units (except Marching Bands): please have a representative sign in at the registration table the day of the Parade as soon as you arrive. To help make it easier for you, it is recommended that you designate a person for this task and coordinate sign in. Only one person per registered unit needs to register. Check in/registration tables will be open at 6:45am. Please try and register as early as possible (please no later than 7:30am) to allow plenty of time to have all units lined up and any issues resolved before we start. There will be a registration table at Franklin Elementary School and another at Harvestview Road. See staging area maps.

• Marching Bands are the only participants who do not need to report to the Registration Table and do not have to display a unit number.

• If you are also a Festival Vendor, you will be given a special Vendor parking pass at the registration table to show when entering the Festival grounds. Please contact the Parade Coordinator before Sept 3rd to ensure you receive the appropriate parking pass.

All participants should download and review all Festival Rules and Regulations.

Here are some additional points to consider:

You may toss candy to spectators.  No other item is permitted to be distributed without the prior approval of the Parade Coordinator.

Vehicles – For safety reasons, no smoking of tires, burning rubber, reckless driving, etc.

Prominently display your unit number at all times (Marching Bands exempt). Vehicles should display their unit number on the front driver’s side window (low enough not to impair driver vision) or on driver’s side door.  This is particularly important at three points along the parade route:

1) At the staging area where the Parade begins.

2) Near Chartley Drive and Walgrove Road where there will be “Spotters” looking for your displayed assigned unit number.  (This ensures that your unit’s announcement is read in the correct order at the Reviewing / Judges stand.  If you fail to show your unit number at this point you “MAY” be disqualified from any trophies or awards.) and

3) At the Reviewing/Judges stand.  The Reviewing/Judges stand will be on your left near the traffic light at Hannah More Park.

All participants should go fully to the end of the route to the light at Reisterstown Shopping Center/Franklin High School so as not to disrupt the flow of other parade units.  (The Parade does not end at McDonald’s!)  Anyone who stops or disbands before the end MAY be disqualified from awards.

Please listen/watch out for Parade personnel at the end of the parade and help keep the route clear for other participants to finish.

Please do NOT stop in front of the reviewing stand (judges) for any performance, stunt, etc unless there is a stoppage in front of you/your group which blocks the route.  All Parade performances should be done while moving forward along the parade route.  Stopping unnecessarily to perform may disqualify you from parade awards.

Local officials and candidates for office are welcome to participate in the Festival Parade if they agree to follow our procedures to ensure that no preference or bias is given to any candidate or party vs another. To do this we assign positions in the parade based on the order of candidates on a voting ballot: highest position to most local office.  No requests for preferential positions will be granted to any candidates.  Officials/Candidates or their designees should contact the Parade Coordinator at parade@reisterstownfest.com for more specific information.