Button up your red jackets and put on your Mountie hats — this parade we’re celebrating 150 years of the RCMP.

“Parade is one of those small-town charm events where everyone — no matter their background, no matter their income, no matter their demographic — can all come together as a community and celebrate what we have,” says Marie Everts, longtime parade organizer.

“Businesses are always very creative and we look forward to seeing how they are going to be celebrating this milestone of the 150 years of the RCMP.” 

Saturday’s parade currently has 45 floats participating and the parade committee is eagerly welcoming more.

“We will happily take last-minute registrations, but we really encourage people to get registered prior to, so we can get all of our prep work done,” Marie says.

You can register a float for the parade with your name and organization on the events page of www.pincherchamber.ca.

“It’s a great time to showcase our business community and our organizations, and come together as one community to just be together and celebrate,” Marie says.

Judges will decide on the best floats in eight categories: overall, municipal, organization/service club, commercial, horse section, cultural dress/traditional, children — bike/novelty, and vintage vehicle. Extra points will be awarded for adhering to the RCMP theme.

Linda Davies, manager of Pincher Creek and District Chamber of Commerce, emphasizes community at this event’s centre.

“This is my first time attending the Pincher Creek parade, so I’m very excited to see all of my new community celebrating together, and the creative ideas that the businesses and the groups are going to come up with for their floats,” Linda says. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Marie agrees.

“Parade is fun, and celebrating community is so important to us to recognize what we have, why we live in this community, why we contribute, why we volunteer, and how that positively affects our residents and community members,” she says.

The parade is all-weather and begins down Main Street at 11 a.m., Aug. 19, in rain, snow or sunshine.

The family-friendly event entails lots of candy for children, but also requires community members to exercise safety and prudence.

“Together as a community, we need to ensure that parade is a safe space for everyone, so that includes ensuring that our kids and our small residents in the community don’t run in the street,” Marie says.

“We need to work together to have a safe, respectful parade so we can continue to do this event.”

This Saturday, the town of Pincher Creek looks forward to welcoming you to the parade.

“It’s shaping up to be a fabulous parade this year,” Marie says.