More than 100 volunteers contributed more than 2,400 hours of their time to fixing the floats, and some floats have been completely re-designed to have new themes that will delight parade-goers for years to come, officials said.
“There was just that goodwill that we’re going to do this for the kids — the children in our community — and it was very heartwarming,” said Sandy Gudorf, president of the Downtown Dayton Partnership, which puts on the holiday festival.
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The 47th Dayton Holiday Festival was held in late November, and as always, the event drew massive crowds.
As many as 35,000 people lined up to watch the annual children’s parade, which led up to the lighting of the Christmas tree in Courthouse Square.
Children and their parents clapped, oohed and aahed as the floats cruised by, traveling along downtown streets.
But the parade could have been a lot less impressive.
Over the summer, vandals damaged the floats, ripping up lights and decorations, and stole their generators.
Thieves also stole drills, lights and other tools and equipment used to repair the floats and prepare them for the big event.
Animals also got into the storage facility and gnawed on wires and caused a destructive mess.
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After the tragic year Dayton had, no one wanted to cancel the parade, but the repair needs were extensive.
The Downtown Dayton Partnership says it never seriously considered canceling the parade, but officials thought it might have to be much smaller than normal.
“We made the decision that we were going to try to make the best out of a bad situation and do everything we could to get as many of the floats ready so we wouldn’t disappoint families and children in our community,” she said.
The partnership put out an SOS for volunteers to help repair the floats in time for the festival.
Internally, the partnership set a goal to try to get 10 out of the 17 floats repaired, which would have been enough for a “respectable” parade, Gudorf said.
But the response far exceeded what officials could have imagined. Droves of volunteers turned out and were able to rebuild and redecorate 16 of the 17 damaged floats.
The partnership received thousands of dollars in donations to help pay for materials and to replace necessary equipment.
The NECA/IBEW Electrical Professionals donated funds, and their electricians helped rewire the floats.
It took a ton of work by many people.
Volunteers decorated the floats with 2,655 square feet of floral sheeting paper, 860 square feet of fringe and 625 square feet of decorative festooning, the partnership said.
Volunteers installed 18,000 new LED lights across 4,100 strands, 27 snow blankets and 64 new large decorative pieces, such as reindeer and light-up candy canes.
Volunteers also installed 15 gingerbread men, a life-sized gingerbread house, a ship wheel and mast and nearly 200 jumbo pieces of candy decorations.
Most of the parade floats were built decades ago, though they have had some updates and redesigns over the years.
The partnership planned to give its floats a makeover before the 50th Dayton Holiday Festival, which happens in 2022.
But that work has been done, thanks to the large number of volunteers who pitched in and the amount of money that was donated, Gudorf said.
“That was a positive outcome from a negative situation,” she said.
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