The final day of the Roselle Lions Rose Festival will feature the annual Rose Parade, sponsored by the Roselle Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The parade will return at 2 p.m. Sunday after a two-year pandemic pause.
Roselle’s Rose Parade is officially returning Sunday, but with a touch of competitiveness in honor of the village’s centennial.
It will be the capstone event of the 60th annual Roselle Lions Rose Festival, which begins tonight. Both events are back after a two-year pandemic pause.
“We’re really excited to welcome back those tried and true events that have been a signature time for families to come together and celebrate the start of summer,” Roselle Mayor David Pileski said.
“We’re back in full swing,” said Gail Croson, executive director of the Roselle Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which stages the parade.
Croson said this year’s procession will feature nearly 80 entries. That is comparable to 2019’s parade, when it was last fully presented in its 60th annual outing.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the planned 2020 parade, and there was a safety-minded “reverse parade” staged last year with residents in vehicles driving past 24 groups stationed in the parking lot at Lake Park High School West Campus.
by signing up you agree to our terms of service
But Croson said the chamber doesn’t officially consider the 2021 event. So the 2022 parade is being counted as the village’s 61st.
Since the Rose Parade is known as a “candy parade,” Pileski said, Roselle has produced a number of centennial logo pails that will be available for families to collect their spoils. But for safety reasons, Croson said any wrapped candy or other giveaways will be tossed to the curb rather than handed out directly.
Where the chamber has injected some drama is in its decision to revive a competition among the parade entries, which have the village’s 100th anniversary as the suggested design theme.
“This being a centennial year, we’ve added the ‘Mayor’s Cup,'” said Croson, adding that there hasn’t been a parade contest since the 1980s.
A judging panel — including former chamber member Dr. Jay Mueller, who has more than 40 years of experience helping to stage the Rose Parade — will decide the “Best in Class” float entries. The two Mayor’s Cup categories are divided into best business and best nonprofit.
“We’ll see what everyone has put together. This is the first time that the village itself has put together a float in a long time, in order to celebrate the centennial,” Pileski said. “Of course, the village will not be eligible for the award, but it should be a lot of fun and I’m sure there will be a lot of community pride on display.”
