Over its 68-year history, the Medford-Vincentown Halloween Parade has grown from a small event consisting of a few floats, fire trucks, tractors and people in costume to a grand parade featuring dozens of floats, marching bands and thousands of spectators.
However, one thing about the parade has never changed.
“Our parade has always been about the kids,” Rotarian David Stow said. “We do not charge for any of our groups, organizations or businesses that participate.”
The 2014 Medford-Vincentown Halloween Parade will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25 beginning at 7 p.m. The parade stretches along Main Street from Firehouse Lane to Haines School.
The parade dates back to 1946, a time when the United States military troops were returning from service in World War II and parades were very popular across the area.
Medford Township officials wanted to come up with an event to engage the town’s youth during Halloween. The Medford-Vincentown Rotary Club suggested starting a parade.
“It was created by the Rotary Club in order to give the kids and the guys coming back during the war something during Mischief Night,” Stow said.
The parade succeeded in attracting children in costume to Medford Village and became a mainstay in the township.
Stow has been working on the parade since 1981. Since then, there have been a number of changes to the parade. To start, the club now has to fund the parade entirely after the township stopped providing funds a few years ago. This resulted in the club going to businesses and asking residents for donations.
“We fund the parade basically by donations,” Stow said. “A lot of those donations come from the Medford-Vincentown Rotary Club businesses themselves.”
Prior to the parade, the club also has coin drops at major intersections. During the parade, club members can also be found with donation buckets walking through the crowd.
“Because we realized there’s so many people from outside the community that attend, Rotarians go through the crowds to ask for donations during the parade,” Stow said.
The amount of resources it takes to throw the parade today is enormous because of its popularity. For a while, the parade used to end at the judge’s stand near Harriett’s Oil just past the Rancocas Creek Bridge. Today, the parade extends further up the road to Haines School to allow more room for spectators.
Stow said the number of people who come out for the parade has exploded in the last couple of decades. The club estimates the parade brings more than 30,000 people to the event.
“I can remember back in the ’80s, the parade was always nice,” Stow said. “But today the crowds, especially if we have good weather, are enormous. I tell people who put floats in the parade every year, whatever you think you need for candy, triple that, and you’ll probably still run out one-third to one-half of the way along the route.”
Because of the massive crowd, the parade requires dozens of volunteers. Some of the preparation on the day of the event begins as early as 7 a.m.
“Almost every member of the club is doing something,” Stow said. “Whether it’s putting together the judges’ stand to lining up the floats so we can have some orderly traffic flow. It’s a complete club effort.”
Anyone in costume is invited to participate in the parade. Walkers can register at St. Mary of the Lakes School on the day of the event. Those who wish to participate in the costume contest following the parade can sign up at the end of the route at Haines School.
For more information on the parade, visitwww.medfordhalloweenparade.com.
