67°F
weather icon Clear

Water-balloonless event pleases city

After a publicity campaign by the city, not one water balloon was seen thrown during the Damboree Parade on July Fourth.

Police Chief Bill Conger was pleased with how the crowds behaved during the parade.

“The folks both in the parade and on the route refrained from the tossing of balloons and other items,” Conger said. “The crowds were well behaved and seemed like they were having a good time.”

City Parks and Recreation Director Roger Hall first approached the newspaper about the water balloon ban in March, with an article announcing the crackdown April 4. The police department also discussed the ban in its weekly newspaper column.

City police wanted to discontinue the water portion of the parade after several incidents the past few years, including a jeep hitting a spectator and water balloons flying at high speed from make-shift slingshots.

Past parade participants had reported that some water balloons were even partially frozen.

Hall said there was none of that activity this year.

“The word got out,” Hall said.

The city made 20 big yellow signs that lined the pedestrian rail along the water route on Fifth Street from Aztec Place to Avenue B, then south on Avenue B, warning of the water balloon prohibition.

Although no water balloons were thrown, city employees and the police found coolers with water balloons, but people cooperated in getting rid of them when told of the ban, Hall said.

There was also a lot of self-policing.

“I heard, too, that people that came in from Las Vegas who did have water balloons. People around them said, ‘Hey, water balloons are not allowed. There’s a lot of police around,’ ” Hall said.

The city also erected barriers along the water route that kept spectators from entering the street or trampling residents’ yards along the route.

“The barriers worked out great,” Hall said. “It was orderly chaos going down that road, which is what we wanted.”

Hall said about 7,000 people attended the parade, 10,000 attended the post-parade activities at Broadbent Park, and 20,000 were at Veterans Memorial Park for the Fourth of July fireworks that night.

Conger said that besides an early family disturbance and some illegal fireworks calls, the day went by without any major incidents for police.

“I’m very, very happy,” Hall said. “The event went well the whole day.”

MOST READ
THE LATEST
Demolition for Flamingo?

The latest twist in the story of the old Flamingo Inn Motel on Nevada Way was set to go down on Wednesday with a meeting of the Historical Preservation Commission. (Note that the meeting took place after the Review went to press and actual coverage of the meeting will take place in a future issue.)

Senior facility gets green light to convert to apartments

Following a unanimous vote by the planning commission in February to approve variances and a conditional use permit so that a former assisted living facility in the southeast part of town can reopen as apartments for seniors, the city council finalized that approval as part of its consent agenda Tuesday.

Little something for everyone at Spring Jamboree

For those looking for an event that checks all boxes in terms of things to do for the entire family, look no further than the Boulder City Spring Jamboree.

Boulder City resident arrested on drug charges

A Boulder City man who was involved in a 2021 shooting death was arrested at his home last week on drug-related charges.

BC welcomes city manager

Boulder City’s new City Manager Ned Thomas chose an auspicious day to start his new job. No, that is not a reference to April 15 as Tax Day, but it is about finances.

Pickleball courts break ground at Veterans Park

For those who enjoy pickleball, work began this week on new, designated courts for one of the country’s most widely-played sports.

City seeks state PERS law carve-out

If you thought that the pace of state legislation in Nevada — a state with a part-time legislature that meets only every other year — would be a slow stroll rather than a break-neck run, you might be surprised to find out that there are well over 1,000 bills being considered at some level in this session.