Council retains alternate July 4 parade route; staff to hold community outreach on permanent route

Parks and recreation staff notified the council May 20 that the city will use the alternate parade route for July 4, 2025, while staff schedules community meetings and a chamber‑led business meeting to gather public input on a permanent parade route.

The nut graf: Council members directed staff to collect feedback from businesses and residents this summer and return with alternatives and cost comparisons before adopting a permanent parade route; the alternate route used for the winter parade will remain in place for the Independence Day event.

Jackie Garcia, parks and recreation, explained that an earlier agenda discussion was postponed and staff needed to submit participant information and deadlines. She said staff will host two public meetings after July 4: one with the Chamber and local businesses and one for the community at large.

Councilmembers noted logistics such as traffic routing, business access and safety concerns and emphasized that any permanent change should be informed by community outreach. Councilmember Pratton acknowledged the difficulty of parade logistics and urged flexibility: “I think both parade routes that we've recently… have goods and bads to them.”

Staff will collect input, prepare a cost comparison for each route and return to council so members can select a permanent route and—if appropriate—apply the route to the winter parade as well.