The Englewood Amateur Radio Association (EARS) keeps showing up for the community, always lending a hand. Last year, they wowed everyone with a weather balloon project at SKY Academy that circled the globe multiple times. This time, they took on a local tradition: the Pioneer Days parade.
Early Monday morning, well before most people’s coffee kicked in, 14 ham radio operators from EARS spread out along the parade route. Their mission? Make sure the parade ran smoothly, no matter what.
“Kim Parks from the Chamber of Commerce handed us the basic plan,” explained Ken Blackshaw of EARS. “From there, we got practical. First challenge: organizing the staging area in Obie’s parking lot. That’s always a bit of a circus. Parade entries rarely show up in order, so it turns into a puzzle every year, shuffling groups around until everyone is where they need to be. Some groups arrive at the last minute, hoping to jump the line, and sometimes they manage it, too.”
And then there are the details only parade veterans appreciate: horses. It’s a parade necessity; the crowd loves them, but you don’t want them in front of the marching band for reasons that are probably obvious.
Of course, there’s also the Shriners. Everybody loves the Shriners, so EARS tried to spread them out in the lineup. Shriners keep the energy up from start to finish.
At the scheduled time, the parade got underway. If you saw it from above, it’d look like a slow-motion version of unspooling yarn: threads gradually working themselves out, winding from the parking lot through twisting side streets, and eventually stretching out onto Dearborn Street where the crowds wait. “It’s a lot more complicated than it looks,” laughs Ken.
The first groups, usually seasoned marchers, set a lively pace. The groups behind them? Sometimes they’re more focused on tossing candy than keeping up. Suddenly, a massive gap opens up, and it threatens to turn one big parade into a few smaller, disconnected ones. That’s when the radio operators riding along really became essential, relaying updates so they could pause the front ranks until everyone caught up.
It all worked out. The parade kept its shape; the crowd enjoyed every moment, and the good luck held, as the rain waited until the very end.
By the time everything wrapped up, the Chamber of Commerce seemed pleased. Having skilled radio operators at every key spot meant problems were spotted and solved before anyone noticed. EARS is already looking forward to next year, ready to fine-tune things even further. That’s just what they do: keep showing up for the community of Englewood.
