Our town: East CobbParade celebrates community

Johnson Ferry Road and the Fountains of Old Towne shopping center, 736 Johnson Ferry Road

Information: 770-640-7070

Cynthia Rozzo’s wish to recreate a memorable piece of her own childhood has turned into an 18-year event for an entire slice of Cobb County.

Rozzo, who moved to East Cobb in 1991, had fond memories of small-town parades that she enjoyed growing up outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Even though she had no children of her own at the time, she wanted to stage a community experience for kids in the area.

“I wanted to create the same kind of hometown tradition that I grew up with, that I thought all children would want to participate in,” said Rozzo, who is now the mother of three youngsters. “So I reached out to the backbone of East Cobb – the PTA presidents – and invited teachers of the year and principals as VIPs. I then invited the high school marching bands to give them a showcase. Some of the band directors had never had that type of request, and they loved the idea.”

While most area groups were supportive, Rozzo also faced a few hurdles, such as convincing the county police to shut down the always-busy Johnson Ferry Road.

“At first, they agreed to shut down one lane, but I didn’t think that was very safe to have traffic going up and down the street alongside a parade,” she said. “Since I’d never done anything like this before, I didn’t know enough to be put off, and I just kept forging ahead.”

Eventually, Rozzo enlisted the backing of then County Commission Chairman Bill Byrne to get the street blocked off. Since then, the East Cobber parade has grown each year, gathering more support from the civic and business community. Rozzo says it is now the biggest parade in the county, with more than 2,000 participants from 25 schools, civic organizations such as Rotary clubs and community groups such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

This year’s parade, coming up Sept.21, will feature marching bands from Wheeler, Walton, Pope and Sprayberry high schools, as well as the home-school band, Joyful Noise. The marchers will take off from Mt. Bethel Elementary, 1210 Johnson Ferry Road, and head to the Fountains of Old Towne shopping center, where local churches and organizations will set up festival booths, kids’ inflatables, games and live musical performances.

“The way I make it happen is through corporate sponsorships and businesses paying to be in the parade,” said Rozzo. “People get behind it because they really understand why we’re doing this. It’s all about taking a couple of hours out of the year to celebrate what’s good about East Cobb and for the kids to have a sweet memory.”

Each Saturday, we shine a spotlight on a local neighborhood, city or community. To suggest a place for us to visit, e-mail H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or call 770- 744-3042.