Our Opinion

Parade should avoid the perils of tossed candy

The 2008 Christmas Parade started the holiday season in style and left warm memories behind.

Unfortunately, it also left something else behind: Trash.

The route the parade took on East Main Street, approaching Town Hill, is littered with hundreds of pieces of candy that nobody picked up, as well as candy wrappers and lollipop sticks.

Candy is always a popular part of this holiday event, but parade organizers should consider a ban on throwing candy from floats.

Instead, require participants who wish to give out treats to have someone walk alongside the float and hand them out.

Some participants are already doing this. It adds a nice personal touch and it certainly cuts down on the amount of unwanted candy left lying on the streets and sidewalks.

A bigger concern than litter is the safety of those along the route, especially children.

With so much going on, parents can easily be distracted and small children can use poor judgment. It would be frighteningly easy for a tyke to dash into the path of a float and be injured (or worse) while trying to reach a treat.

Throwing hard bits of candy at a crowd can be dangerous in other ways as well. The sweet little missiles can cause physical harm. One lady was struck in the nose hard enough to open a large cut.

These are three of the reasons many other towns have already decided to ban the throwing of candy from parade floats.

We'd like to see the Franklin parade join their ranks. The parade would be no less Christmasy, and the aftermath would be much sweeter.