‘We make mistakes.’ Raleigh pauses parade permits as city manager apologizes for missteps

Raleigh will not issue any new parade permits until it evaluates its procedures, after being criticized for its handling of the Veterans Day and Christmas parades.

The pause in permits announced Tuesday also came with an apology from City Manager Marchell Adams-David..

“While we are fully committed to doing great work all the time, we don’t always hit the mark,” she said. “We’re human. We make mistakes. And I’m a firm believer that you own your mistakes. When you make them, then you create opportunities so that you don’t repeat them continuously.”

The Raleigh Christmas Parade will go on without motorized vehicles, as planned, Nov. 18. The event was issued a permit Tuesday.

“I acknowledge that some mistakes have occurred in our processes, and in our communication,” Adams-David said. “Please be assured that all of our actions related to these events have been and will continue to be motivated by our desire to ensure the health, safety and welfare of those that attend or take part in them.”

Organizers of the North Carolina Veterans Day Parade canceled their parade this past weekend after the city notified them they could not have motorized vehicles.

Richard Spyrison, president of the Wake County Council of Veteran, said he was disappointed the city notified them three days before the event.

“If they had given us two, three, four weeks on this, we would have been able to change something, to adapt,” Spyrison told The News & Observer last week.

“That’s what we do in the military: We adapt to the situation,” he said in a previous interview. “But giving us three days was too much to work with. We couldn’t do it.”

Christmas parade permit debate

In September, the city announced it was not issuing a permit for the Christmas parade, partly out of respect for the family of Hailey Brooks, the 11-year-old girl fatally hit by a runaway float truck during the 2022 Christmas parade.

After public outcry, and a statement from the Brooks family, the city agreed to issue the permit if the parade didn’t have motorized vehicles.

Hailey’s father, Trey Brooks, said the parade should continue with floats and vehicles if there were common-sense rules in place. He said it was unfair for the city to tie the cancellation to them when officials had not consulted them.

Tuesday, Adams-David responded to the criticism, saying, “As we continue to evaluate our processes and procedures, it is clear that there’s more work to do.”

The goal, she said, is to have guidelines in place early next year for parades in 2024, starting with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

“Accountability and leadership go hand in hand,” she said. “We don’t just get the praise when things go well, we all know when it doesn’t go right. We fix it. And we come out bigger and better next year. And I’m looking forward to our parade season in 2024.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2023 at 5:49 PM.

Anna Roman

The News & Observer

919-829-4807

Anna Roman is a service journalism reporter for the News & Observer. She has previously covered city government, crime and business for newspapers across North Carolina and received many North Carolina Press Association awards, including first place for investigative reporting.