It’s official: The Southold Town board has banned the throwing of candy or other items during parades.
At Tuesday’s work session, the board discussed the rewording the town’s special event policy to state that participants will not be allowed to throw candy to spectators.
Parade participants can, however, hand candy to spectators from a bucket, board members said.
If participants do not agree and throw the candy, anyway, they might be forbidden from participating in future events.
Southold Town Councilman Jim Dinizio asked who would enforce the rule, and said candy is thrown all the time at parades. “I’m not going to go up and say they can’t do it,” he said. “I’m not an enforcement official. We need to have someone on the sidelines to say, ‘Hey, you’re not supposed to be doing this.'”
“Police along the route,” Councilman Bill Ruland said. “People who’ve been hit in the eye will have no problem enforcing this.”
Councilwoman Louisa Evans said parade participants need to know well ahead of time about the new rules.
“There are organizations in the parade that follow the rules,” Ruland said. “Kids can get candy out of a bucket.” He added that one group, which he declined to name, was a “big offender” in July. “I am not one to stand in the way of patriotic parades but I don’t want a volunteer who is there to protect people to be hit in the eye with candy. It’s common decency.”
The board voted unanimously to amend the special events policy.
