The Bell Tower Festival steering committee and the Rotary Club of Jefferson are accepting registrations for the Bell Tower Festival parade, slated for Saturday, June 11.
The parade offers businesses, organizations, churches, neighboring towns and others a chance to showcase what makes them special. To draw more parade entries, and to add to the fun, parade entries will be judged in five different categories, with cash prizes, trophies, and the inauguration of a traveling trophy for the best float.
The local Rotary Club has sponsored the parade since its inception with the first Bell Tower Festival in 1980. This year’s festival theme celebrates Jefferson’s sesquicentennial. The parade theme is “Towering in Service for 100 Years,” in recognition of the Rotary Club’s centennial in 2022.
Judging categories are:
–Commercial-business enterprises
–Non-commercial, non-profit groups, class reunions, service organizations, and other non-business enterprises
–Festival thematic – Entries that depict this year’s festival theme, “150 Years of Jefferson”
–Rotary thematic – Entries that depict this year’s parade theme, “Towering in Service for 100 Years”
–Best float – Entries that include a float as the main focus of the entry
The Rotary Club is offering cash prizes of $100, $60, and $40 for first, second and third place winners in the Rotary thematic competition. Floats in that category may use the Rotary emblem in compliance with Rotary International regulations. Rules for use of the emblem are available from parade chair Sam Harding at sam@iowaschoolconstruction.com or club president Tori Riley at jeffersoniarotary@gmail.com Improper displays of the emblem will be removed from the entry prior to entering the parade route.
A traveling trophy will be awarded to the Best Float winner. The impressive trophy will be engraved with the winner’s name and the year. The trophy can be displayed at the winner’s location until the 2023 parade.
According to parade chair Harding, a “float” is a trailer pulled by a vehicle. The trailer should be fully decorated and can have people riding on it. The towing vehicle and additional walkers or vehicles can be decorated to complement the float. The float can depict the entity that is entering it, the Bell Tower Festival theme, or the Rotary Club theme.
All parade entries should be registered by completing the form available at www.jeffersonmatters.org under the Events tab as soon as possible. There is no charge for entries before June 10. Entries the day of the parade will be charged $20. More information about parade line-up procedures is available on the website.
The parade steps off from Greene County Middle School at 11 am. Entries must be staged at the middle school by 10 am to be judged.
As in all public events, safety is of the utmost importance to the festival and parade committees. The Bell Tower Festival steering committee and the Rotary Club of Jefferson reserve the right to immediately remove anyone deemed as acting in an unsafe manner during the parade. Entries with significant height must be able to safely navigate the parade route without touching overhead lines or trees. Large trucks and floats with obstructed views must provide walking parade participants to help with safe navigation. Horse entries are allowed only if they come with their own clean-up crew that follows throughout the parade.
