Safety, fun must be balanced

Sunday's Fourth of July parade was great, though we'd argue that a 1 p.m. start time would be more appropriate when the Fourth falls on a Sunday.

Still, even the most enthusiastic parade fan had to take a deep breath when the news came in from Iowa.

There, at a little town called Bellevue, a parade not at all unlike the one in downtown Portland turned into a scene of chaos and tragedy when a pair of horses ran out of control and trampled children who were picking up candy thrown into the street.

One person was killed and 23 were injured.

Local public safety officials have been concerned for years about the risks inherent in a good parade.

With all those entries, with the mix of pedestrians, vehicles, and animals, with kids and candy, with distracted drivers and yahoos showing off, it's a potentially dangerous mix, as the events in Bellevue, Iowa, make painfully clear.

The challenge is how to hang onto the fun while minimizing the opportunity for things to go wrong.

Some communities have banned parade candy, a step that seems unduly harsh.

Others limit candy distribution to pedestrians walking the parade route, folks who can hand it to kids rather than tossing it onto the pavement.

Others strictly control the line of spectators, which can be awfully tough to do along any parade route.

We're not at all sure what the answer is, but we do know that the problem is real. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]