Rose Parade Canceled Due to Low Number of Entries

The Middle School at Parkside Marching Band performed in the 2023 Rose Parade.  JTV file photo.

(May 24, 2024 12:52 PM) The Jackson County Rose Festival announced today that the annual Rose Parade scheduled for Sunday, June 2 is being canceled due to a low number of entries.

In a release, Rose Festival Board Chairman Jim Francis said, “With only 33 entries in the parade we have no choice but to cancel the event.  We apologize to those organizations who planned to be a part of the parade.  Hopefully next year we will be able to attract new people in our community to be involved with the parade.”

The Jackson County Rose Parade began in 1958, followed by the Jackson County RoseQueen Pageant in 1960.  Over the years, the two signature events were accompanied by rose garden tours, rose shows, community picnics, athletic events and other rose-themed summer activities. In recent years, the parade and pageant have been the only remaining Rose Festival events.  The Jackson Rose Run, an ORS Running Series event held by the Jackson Rose Run and Jackson College is not affiliated with the Jackson County Rose Festival.

Community citizens Kenneth Bronson and L. James Hilliker started the Rose Festival in the late 1950s to celebrate Jackson as the Rose City.  The (then) Jackson City Commission named the rose the city’s official flower in 1931.

In 2020 and 2021 the Rose Parade was canceled due to the pandemic.  When it returned in 2022, it followed a new route through downtown along Michigan Avenue.  Through the years, the parade has had a variety of routes including from the fairgrounds to Ella Sharp Park, from downtown to Westwood Mall, and from downtown to Ella Sharp Park.  It was billed as one of Michigan’s largest parades in its heyday, attracting more than 100 floats, entries, and bands.

Francis said he was saddened to decide to cancel, but efforts over the past few weeks did not attract enough entries.

The Festival hopes to bring the parade back next year and asks those interested in the parade and wishing to see it continue to contact Jim Francis via the Rose Festival website www.jacksonrosefestival.org.