By CARL GREEN
Illinois Correspondent
East Alton, IL – The Alton Labor Day Parade won’t be in Alton this year. It’s being moved to a new route nearby in East Alton and Wood River.
B. Dean Webb, president of the Greater Madison County Federation of Labor, announced the change at the Federation’s May meeting.
The move is being made to get more people to attend the long-standing, traditional parade of Labor unions, community groups and bands.
The new route is primarily in residential areas, unlike the longtime route, much of it along College Avenue in Alton.
“A third of our current route is all businesses, and we’re just trying to get more into a residential area and get some more participation,” Webb said. “We’re just trying to get a bigger crowd out to watch the parade.”
NO CHANGE FOR PICNIC, SOFTBALL
The Federation’s annual softball tournament and post-parade picnic will remain at Gordon Moore Park in Alton as always.
The parade route is 1.3 miles, as before, but starting at the Wood River Round House recreation facility, at 633 N. Wood River Ave. and proceeding northward to the Wilshire Village shopping center, where Schnucks is located at 634 Brookshire Ave., East Alton.
As before, participants will line up at 8 a.m. and the parade will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24. It is held then to avoid a conflict with the parades in Granite City, Belleville and St. Louis on Labor Day.
The Federation is now accepting applications for the softball tournament, which kicks off the Labor Day celebrations in the Metro-East. For more information, contact Webb at bdeanwebb@sbcglobal.net or call 618-259-8558.
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