Final Preparations Being Made for Halloween Parade

Many Saucon Valley residents are gearing up for the "big parade" this Sunday, so it wasn't surprising that the annual Halloween parade was a topic for discussion at Monday's Hellertown Borough Council meeting.

Although traffic along the Route 412 corridor is typically lighter on weekends, both councilman Tom Rieger and Borough Police Chief Robert Shupp advised area residents to be prepared for parade-related tie-ups in the vicinity of Hellertown on Sunday afternoon.

The parade itself is scheduled to be held from 2 to 4pm, but Shupp said motorists should try to avoid the area from 1 to 5pm if possible.

This year--for the first time in many years--a portion of the parade will be on Main Street (Route 412), which means traffic will be more impacted than in recent years.

The parade route will start next to the at Walnut Street and Rentzheimer Drive, which will be a staging area, Rieger said.

Floats and participants will march down Walnut before turning right onto Main Street and proceeding north to Water Street, where they will turn east at . The parade will next turn briefly onto Rentzheimer (heading south) before turning left (east) on Durham Street and finally right (south again) on Constitution Avenue.

The parade will end at Constitution Avenue and Walnut Street, by the campus.

Shupp told council that seven borough police officers will be part of the parade, including two bicycle cops and one officer who will be marching with local Boy Scouts as part of a "Salute to Heroes."

At the meeting, Borough Council unanimously approved a $500 donation toward the staging of this year's parade, which is under the supervision of parade chairman David Heintzelman. The money for the donation was already part of this year's budget, council president Phil Weber said.

In an email to press on Oct. 15, Heintzelman said that volunteers David and Georgine Stuempfle will be walking the parade route during the parade to collect donations from spectators.

"Everyone is strapped financially," he said, "but if you can please give a little, we can help (reduce) the deficit that we have for the first time since I started handling this parade."

"Please be as generous as you can," he added.

Heintzelman also cautioned families to maintain close supervision of their children while enjoying the parade, which will feature many large vehicles moving at slow speeds.

"Please...keep all children within reach," he said. "It is very scary to see our youth trying to grab the candy while fire trucks are moving."