HOF Festival Community Parade in Canton to change days for first time
CANTON − The Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Festival Community Parade will be held on a Saturday morning for the first time in its 46-year history.
The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce recently decided to move the 2026 parade, a staple of the Hall of Fame enshrinement activities since 1980, to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 1 .
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Darla Brown, the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce's director of marketing and membership strategy, gave two reasons for the change.
Why is the Canton Community Parade changing to Saturday?
The first is to help organizations that have expressed interest in marching in the parade but find Sunday afternoon conflicts with their schedules.
Many prospective participants attend church services on Sunday, Brown said. Some are based in the Akron area, and they find it difficult to attend service and drive to Canton to assemble in time for what was traditionally a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
The other reason is the Chamber expects late morning temperatures to be more favorably cool. The Canton Repository over the years has often reported high, searing temperatures during the parade when it's not raining.
"We've heard very positive feedback from our participants with this change so far," Brown wrote in an email.
The festivities' other parade, the higher-profile Grand Parade, takes place at 8 a.m. the Saturday after the Community Parade. It's scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 8.
So now the festivities will have two parades on Saturday mornings, one week apart.
Brown said with the changes in date and time, she expects 80 to 100 units in the Community Parade this year.
There were 76 units last year and the parade had as many as 197 units in 1995 and 153 in 1996.
The 2016 version was canceled due to heavy rain, high winds and lightning and the 2020 event was called off due to the pandemic.
Community Parade history
The Chamber founded what was then the Junior Parade on July 27, 1980, for high school bands, drill teams and other young participants who were excluded from the Grand Parade due to broadcast time constraints.
Because of forecast rain, organizers started that inaugural parade 15 minutes early prior to the 2 p.m. scheduled time and it ended in a downpour.
The Chamber rebranded the parade as the Community Parade in 2003. The parade has often been rebroadcast on a local cable channel hours after it's taken place.
The parade has had two routes, both significantly shorter than the Grand Parade route to spare youths the longer walk.
From 1980 to 2001, the parade started at Tuscarawas Street W and McKinley Avenue and moved to McKinley National Memorial.
In 2002, the parade switched to the current route, which will not change this year. Participants assemble and start the parade at 11th Street NW and Market Avenue N in the parking lot of what was then the Nationwide building. They march south on Market Avenue until they get to Second Street or Third Street S.
Applications to apply for a spot in the Community Parade this year are due by June 26.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton HOF Festival Community Parade gets new day, new time for 2026
