Calabasas considers 4th of July parade

Another Fourth of July has come and gone, but the city of Calabasas still has the holiday in mind. Last week, the Calabasas City Council discussed the possibility of sponsoring an Independence Day parade next year.

After several meetings between the city manager, the community services director and the city traffic and transportation department, Calabasas officials decided a Fourth of July parade would be a welcome addition to the city’s festivities already scheduled.

“I think the

dea behind the citizens who are looking to put this on was o kind of fill

n the day on

he Fourth of July and make Calabasas a place where

he residents would have something to do all day long,” said Jonathon Wolfson, Calabasas City Councilmember. “The parade would kind of round out the offerings.”

The parade is currently just an idea and organizers have many details to work out, according to city officials. The parade committee, made up of volunteers, will most likely come back to the council with a plan to stage the parade. The parade committee will handle most of the parade organization.

“(The city) would take care of the infrastructure of a parade—and we can do that within the currently approved budget of the city—but we would not get

involved in actually organizinthe parade—who’s going to parade, who’s going to be the parade marshal—none of thosthings,” said Calabasas City Manager Tony Coroalles at last week’s city council meeting. “Nor would we get involved in any charity aspects, or money-raising or soliciting of contributions for charitable contributions . . .There’s a pretty good split here that we provide the infrastructure: the sheriff, the safety aspects, the closure of the streets and those kinds of things. . .A citizens’ volunteer committee would actually run the parade and coordinate with us on the parade,” said Coroalles.

Robert Yalda, Calabasas Transportation/Intergovernmental Relations Director, said the traffic work that the city would have to do for the parade is only an extension of what the city already does for the usual Fourth of July activities. Yalda helped choose the parade route.

“We found that this was the best route (where) we’ll have minimum impact on residential (areas),” Yalda said.

The Calabasas City Council voted unanimously to host a Fourth of July parade in the city.

Councilmember James Bozajian, however, said he hoped the city would bring back the Halloween pumpkin parade it used to host, which is very fitting for the city.

Councilmember Mary Sue Maurer said that she’d heard the same requests from many residents.

The name “Calabasas” derives from the Spanish word “cala-baza,” meaning pumpkin, squash or gourd.

The city might discuss the Halloween pumpkin parade at another council meeting. The Fourth of July parade will move forward.

“The (Fourth of July) parade was designed to be a community event that had a secondary opportunity of being a fundraiser for Calabasas-based charities,” Coroalles said. The city manager encouraged the parade committee to use the event’s funds for the city’s planned Shane’s Inspiration, a playground for children of all abilities and disabilities.

The Fourth of July parade would start at the intersection of Park Granada and Parkway Calabasas, and travel north on Parkway Calabasas to Calabasas Road. The parade would continue down Calabasas Road and end at Park Centre, a site for follow-up events.

Calabasas staff believes the city would need to hire four enforcement officers, a traffic control crew, a street sweeper and two members of the city’s traffic and transportation department to fulfill their obligation of the parade.

In addition to fireworks on the night of July 4 in Calabasas, guests can participate in crafts and games and can watch live entertainment.