Selectmen Limit Permits For Parade Vendors

By Steve Bigham

The Board of Selectmen Monday night set a limit on the number of vending permits the town will distribute for its annual Labor Day parade.

Starting this year, only 15 vending permits will be distributed to area pushcart businesses. In years past, when permits were not limited, more than 30 vendors were issued permits, which was creating an ugly scene, according parade organizers.

The selectmen were acting on a request from the Labor Day Parade Committee, which has received numerous phone calls and complaints from residents regarding the “obtrusive nature” of vendors and their products. The committee had asked that the town restrict all outside vendors – something the selectmen legally cannot do.

“The outside vendors are not welcome and have become a serious problem for the image of the parade,” the committee wrote in a July, 1999, letter to First Selectman Herb Rosenthal. “They sell offensive items such as ‘stink bombs’ and ‘vomit-smelling’ novelties.”

The parade committee said parade watchers complain about vendors pushing carts up and down the parade route, blocking the view, getting in the way of children trying to see the parade, and they sell huge oversized balloons that also block the view of many people watching the parade. They also take up prime standing space along the parade route as they set up on the street at 5 am, according to the committee.

The Parade Committee said it supports townspeople taking on these vending opportunities with fund-raising for non-profit organizations.