Citizens hope to take holiday parade reins.

Byline: MATT COOPER The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Rod Hatter has long been a regular in the Springfield Christmas Parade, hauling kids in costume and helping his wife decorate their '65 Datsun as a wind-up toy.

Now Hatter is at the head of the procession, dedicated to nothing less than the continuation of the parade itself.

Hatter, a Springfield resident and businessman, is organizing a committee to take the reins from the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, which has overseen the parade since its inception 50 years ago.

"I knew it was going to go bye-bye if somebody didn't (volunteer)," said Hatter, 49. "When you're in that parade and you see the faces on the people looking at you and you realize how many kids are involved and what it does for the community, I think it's something that needs to continue."

The popularity of Springfield's "oldest and coldest" holiday procession hasn't exactly waned. The 50th annual parade earlier this month drew 77 participants and 10,000 viewers, said organizer Denise Brittain, of the chamber.

If anything, chamber Executive Director Dan Egan said, the problem is too much success because expectations are outpacing the capabilities of his small staff.

"A lot of really good ideas have bubbled to the surface," Egan said. "We are a business organization, and it would be only to the parade's benefit to have more people involved beyond the chamber. This is a little bit of a success story when something becomes so popular the best thing we can do is have it stand on its own."

The parade was started in 1953 to promote downtown's holiday shopping season. Retail growth there has been stagnant for years, but the parade has endured as a kickoff to the holiday season.

While the chamber's cost to stage the parade is negligible, Egan said, the drain on staff time is considerable, beginning four months out and snowballing as the December date approaches and the buzz builds.

"There's not a month in the year that goes by without people calling and asking, when are the dates of the parade?" Egan said. "The parade has not operated on a ton of money - it's been a ton of time."

Hatter and Egan envision a volunteer committee similar to that which runs the Filbert Festival, the city's summer celebration named for the brown-skinned nuts.

Hatter is president and founder of Specific Alloy Components Inc., an industrial machine shop in the Booth-Kelly Center near downtown. He's been a member of the chamber's board of directors the past two years.

The chamber will continue to coordinate parade registration, Egan said, and it will contribute $1,000 to jump-start the new group, which is in the formative stages.

Egan suggested that 25 parade volunteers would make for a strong foundation. Hatter currently has the help of six to eight people, mainly representatives from the chamber, the Springfield Utility Board, Springfield schools and the Willamalane Park and Recreation District.

The committee will discuss whether to seek nonprofit status or partnership with another organization, Hatter said.

Hatter, Egan and Brittain agree that the parade needs little tinkering, although they'd like the committee to help improve the quality of the floats.

Brittain said 25 in-kind services were donated this year, and 10 businesses contributed the $5,000 that funded the event. Of that, $1,500 went to a tuba concert and $900 to plaques and ribbons, while $1,000 will go to the new parade committee, Brittain said.

"We've got to see more sponsorship dollars come in so we can afford to pay for the overall expenses," she added.

Other parade suggestions include float-making workshops, indoor events, a parade-day race, heritage awards, and more involvement from youth, the Latino community and other groups throughout the city, Egan said.

"These are wonderful ideas, but we can't necessarily get to them," he added.

"Over the next several years, I would hope I could see the day when there would be 100 entries into the parade."

SPRINGFIELD CHRISTMAS PARADE

What: Volunteers are invited to join the new parade committee. For more information, call the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce at 746-1651.

CAPTION(S):

Santa waves during the 1999 Springfield Christmas Parade. Volunteers will take over organizing the parade next year.