Everyone loves a parade, but how many area residents love it enough to participate? That’s what the Statesboro Kiwanis Club wants to know.
    The 50th Annual Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair will kick off Monday, Oct. 17, with a parade through downtown Statesboro, as it has since 1961.  The parade is always a fun way to begin “fair week,” but Parade Chairman Charles Sheets hopes this year will be different.
    He hopes people come out in droves to watch, but what he really wants is to have the biggest, best parade in history as a fitting celebration of the club’s 50th fair anniversary.
    If anyone knows of a 1961 vehicle — car, truck or even tractor — Sheets invites the owner to drive it or even haul it in the parade.
    He also hopes for at least 50 floats and encourages clubs, groups, businesses and others to enter.
    “We need applications now,” he said. “So far we have 39 applications and 900 or so people, but we need another 1,500 to 2,000 people and another 100 entries.”
    Floats and other parade entries are a great way to promote what is going on in the community, he said. “It’s a great way to show community involvement and let people know you are there and are an active part of the community.”
    The fair parade is more than just kicking off the fair, it is a demonstration of community spirit he said. “It’s about pleasing the community and getting people excited about the fair. It’s to create excitement not only about Kiwanis, but both the fair and community.”
    The Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair, which serves participants for seven counties and draws visitors from even more counties across the region, is one of the largest and longest-running fairs in Georgia, according to Fair Chairman Don Poe.
    The annual event is how the Statesboro Kiwanis Club makes money that is in turn filtered back into the community through donations to charities, projects and other endeavors.
    Sheets said several new groups already have signed up to enter the parade. He encourages local civic clubs, businesses, and other groups, including horseback riders, to enter.
    Horses riding in the parade need current negative Coggins test papers, and riders must pay a $5 cleanup fee. A discount will be given to riders in groups identified as a riding club or organization.
    He said bands and cheerleading groups are important entries, as are local recreation department groups. Dignitaries, public safety vehicles, antique tractor and automobiles, animal rescue groups and beauty pageant winners are also popular entries. “It brings attention to the community by having them in the parade,” he said.
    Church groups, child care centers, and other similar entries are always fun as well, he said.
    The theme for the parade floats this year is “50 Years of Having Fun,” in celebration of the agricultural fair’s anniversary. The floats should also be agriculturally themed, as the fair is an agricultural fair.
    The deadline for entry is Oct. 11, with hopes of having the line-up list posted by Oct. 13, Sheets said.
    Floats should be in place by 4 p.m. along assigned streets off East Olliff Street, with other entries in place by 4:30 p.m., he said.
    Portable toilets will be located in the First Baptist Church parking lot and along Mulberry Street.
    For more information or for a parade application, go to www.kiwanisogeecheefair.org or call Sheets at (912) 587-9232. Horseback riders should call (912) 481-8015.