De Soto Parade organizers explain ‘agonizing’ decision to cancel 2022 event last-minute

After the 2022 De Soto Grand Parade was canceled hours before the start time as bad weather rolled in, the organizers have written to the Bradenton Herald to explain their decisionmaking.

Here’s what the explanation given by Hernando DeSoto Historical Society President Robert Ricciardo, president and parade chairmen Tom Murphy and Mike Ivko:

“We are writing to explain why we made the decision to cancel the parade.

At 2:45, when we canceled, weather radar showed several storm cells developing behind the one that struck us. Over 1,000 parade participants were boarding buses to staging.

Once there, these people would be stuck — they had no way to get back, except on a float. Hundreds of law enforcement and EMS personnel were preparing to hit the street. Municipal workers were about to set up light towers for the media.

Trucks were to be placed at intersections along the parade route to stop unauthorized vehicles. Four semi-trailer trucks were preparing to set up 3 miles of barricades. Dozens of detour signs had to be set up.

At Manatee High School, we spent hours chalking the lots to identify the location of each entry so that 80-foot floats could safely move out of staging. The rain washed the chalk away.

As the rain stopped, a lightning bolt struck the staging area, right next to where we had floats staged.

Flooding backed up traffic, and we were about to close all those roads. Closing Manatee Avenue requires local approval and the Florida DOT.

Our permit gives us access Manatee Avenue until 11 p.m. A delay meant we would have started late, the parade would not end until after 11 p.m., and the streets not cleared until after 1 a.m. — a violation of our permit.

The decision to cancel was agonizing, but it was made to protect everyone who would be on the streets that night.

We’re disappointed like you, but we’d rather you be disappointed than hurt.

We’ll be back next year better than ever — Ole!”