05/19/2026
Florence City Council approves America’s Fourth of July Parade
By Charlotte Burrous
After revisiting the Fourth of July Wet Parade decision, the Florence City Council approved a temporary use permit application on May 18 to America’s Parade Committee to plan for the 150/250 Fourth of July Parade this year.
Originally, the council and staff discontinued the Fourth of July Wet/Dry Parade because of the drought. But when a committee requested to be allowed to hold the parade, excluding the wet portion of the parade, the council agreed to the new plan.
During the May 18 meeting, co-chairpersons Amy Dawn Bourlon-Hilterbran and Jim Sheridan answered questions from the council.
“It’s a great plan. I like it. It’s great. It’s good,” said Councilor Tammy Stone. “Is there any possibility we could get the highway opened before 2 p.m.?”
Bourlon-Hilterbran noted they put 2 p.m. on the application was done for several reasons.
“No. 1, the potential for a larger parade once we complete the approval from City Council, but also our committee will be going after the parade cleaning up, collecting the trash totes, emptying the city’s trash containers and putting all of the trash at the parking lot at Pikes Peak and Main. We know that process will take at least 30 minutes. We wanted to make sure we had an hour of time so the festivities and activities are over, but our committee and volunteers are there to clean up and make sure the streets are clean and that the trash receptacles are placed so that the city staff doesn’t have to incur that burden. That’s one of the reasons. It’s not that we wanted to have the parade until 2. We don’t feel like the parade will last as long as we projected, but we would rather have that time submitted to you guys that potentially go over because we have more registrations.”
She also noted that public works would shut the streets off at 3 a.m.
“We don’t need you to shut them off at 3 a.m.,” Bourlon-Hilterbran said. “We have a handful of people that would volunteer, but I don’t know they would do it at 3 a.m. Maybe they could close the roads at 5. That way there won’t be so many hours involved in staff.”
Councilor Stone stated she was looking at the flow of traffic because the band would start playing in Pioneer Park at noon. At 11 a.m., Nature’s Educators will be in Pioneer Park. The Ducky Derby will also be in the park at 12:30 p.m.
“It just seems like a lot for our public works and the police department to try to do both jobs to keep pedestrians going back and forth when there’s going to be a lot of flow of traffic on Second and Third streets when the highway is closed,” Stone added. I was just seeing if you could wrap it up a little quicker, maybe.”
Based on the number of registrations, the committee believes they have approximately a one-hour parade, Bourlon-Hilterbran replied. With the additional registrations, the parade could go as late as noon.
“We don’t know,” she continued. “Once that is over, we’re allowing for one hour of clean up.”
When asked when the parade would start, Bourlon-Hilterbran noted it would begin at 10 a.m. An awards ceremony will take place at 9 a.m. in the parking lot at Pikes Peak Ave. and Main St. It will also be where the parade announcer will be and where the community awards and veterans awards prior to the parade. After the parade, the committee will present the parade awards.
“While we are tallying the votes, potentially, we will have CCHS vocal sing the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ something to fill the gap while we’re tallying the parade votes,” Bourlon-Hilterbran added.
Public Works Director Sam Elstun said he understood how it works and would keep the road closed until 2 p.m.
The projected time of 2 p.m. is the worst case scenario, Sheridan said. All of the volunteers can start picking up trash and get the street cleaned up as soon as the parade is over.
“If we get it done way before that, we will turn the streets over to you,” he said.
When asked about details, City Manager Lori Cobler pointed out that they were on the map the committee had submitted.
After a little more discussion, the council approved the temporary use permit for the America’s Parade Committee.
In an unrelated matter, the council approved funding under the City of Florence’s Outside Agency Funding Request Program to13 agencies. The funding goes to Emergent Campus Cyber Club Program, $1,000; Florence Arts Council, $3,000; Florence Band Boosters, $1,000; Florence Chamber of Commerce, $3,000; Florence Historic Archives, $1,000; Florence Merchants Association, $1,000; Florence Pioneer Museum & Research Center, $2,000; Florence Senior Community Center, $1,000; Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway, $1,000; JJs Helping Paws, $1,500; Nature’s Educators, $1,000; Pioneer Day Association, $2,000 and Rural Start Up Day, $1,500.
In other business, the council made the following decisions:
Tabled an ordinance, adding the wildfire resiliency code to Title 15 until the Aug. 17 meeting.
Adopted an ordinance, amending sections of Chapter 5 of the Florence Municipal Code relating to contractors licensing.
