Douglas Heritage Committee Sets June 18 Deadline for 250th Parade Participants

DOUGLAS -- June 4, 2026, Douglas sets June 18 deadline for entries in June 27 250th anniversary parade. The Douglas Heritage and Honor Committee, meeting Thursday, agreed that all parade participants must register by 5 p.m. on June 18, with the event running an eight-tenths-of-a-mile route from GBI on West Street to Soldiers Field on June 27. The committee confirmed a long list of near-confirmed entries including Bay State Trail Riders with up to nine horses, Dauphiné's antique cement mixer, a 1928 automobile, unicyclist Joe Delbeck in an Uncle Sam costume, the Daughters of the American Revolution, bagpipers and drummers, and the newly registered Douglas Historical Society marching in period 1800s dress. After an incident at the Memorial Day parade in which horses had never previously encountered cattle and had to withdraw, the committee settled on a staging plan that keeps horses at the GBI lot and 4-H cows on West Street so the animals cannot see or smell each other. A post-parade festival at Soldiers Field, opening at noon, will include an apple pie contest with a numbered challenge coin as first prize, vendor booths, a food truck area, and a barrel train ride, with all vendors required to be set up by 11 a.m.