While there will not be a Newtown Labor Day Parade for the second year, one resident continues to finalize plans for an alternate offering next Monday morning. There is a small change in the display and parade start time.

Within hours of the parade’s cancellation announcement in June, Rob Emmerthal announced he would organize a tractor parade for that day. It is not the first time Emmerthal has organized such an event, and far from the first time he and some friends will be traveling the parade route on Labor Day.

Emmerthal was joined by about 12 of them on Labor Day last year, when they put their tractors on view in front of Edmond Town Hall before driving them along Main Street.

He hopes to be joined by even more this year, when farm tractors of any age will roll down Main Street on September 6.

As of this week, Emmerthal does not know how many fellow tractor enthusiasts will be joining him, but he is “expecting a pretty good turnout,” he said September 1.

Emmerthal’s one caveat is that a participating tractor must be a proper farm tractor.

“Any farm tractor is welcome,” he told The Newtown Bee two months ago. “That’s the only description I’m offering. I just don’t want to have a bunch of lawn tractors rolling down Main Street,” he said in June, with a laugh.

Emmerthal is planning to drive his Massey-Ferguson 283. Friends and family have been promising to appear with equally impressive machines.

All are still welcome to join him, he said this week.

“I don’t need anybody’s notice,” he said Wednesday morning. “They don’t need to tell me they’re coming — just show up.”

Plenty of parking, he said, should be available behind Edmond Town Hall for trucks and trailers carrying the tractors.

Updated Start Time

The event on Monday will now begin at 9 am.

Tractors will be lined up along Main Street in front of Edmond Town Hall, at 45 Main Street.

The group will be there from 9 to 10:30 am, Emmerthal said this week.

The public is invited to do what he called “a reverse parade, just drive past us,” he said, or people are welcome to park somewhere and to get an up-close look at the tractors.

“They are welcome to stop, take pictures, and talk to the owners of the machines,” Emmerthal said, although he also cautioned, “while some of the guys will allow people to climb onto the tractors, people should be asking permission for that first.”

The tractor parade is scheduled to begin at 10:30 am, one hour earlier than originally announced.

It will still follow the traditional parade route, which means heading south on Main Street to Glover Avenue, following Glover to Queen Street, and then following Queen to Church Hill Road.

Drivers have been asked not to throw candy, according to the post Emmerthal started back in June on the Newtown Neighbors Unite Facebook page. The request is one Emmerthal wants all drivers to follow to prevent children from running into the road among the moving vehicles.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal has been invited to appear, according to Emmerthal, and members of Hope On Main Street (HOMS) will also be on site Monday morning.

HOMS is a fundraising team that honors cancer survivors and their caregivers with special events to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Emmerthal, a member of HOMS, said donations will be gratefully accepted from all who wish to support the fight against cancer.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends and family to cancer,” he said in June.

“That’s the cause at the root of all this,” Emmerthal reiterated this week.

=====

Associate Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.