The Oakley Chamber of Commerce kicks off Oakley Summer Fest with a parade on Saturday, June 28 and is seeking participants.
The parade staging area will begin at 8 a.m. and the parade starts at 9 a.m., with the festival directly after, at 10 a.m.
Oakley Summer Fest will be in Civic Center Plaza and on Main Street from Norcross to Vintage Parkway. This event is a daytime five-hour family-friendly festival. This event is designed to be a celebration of summer and our Oakley community with a wide range of activities for attendees – such as 40+ vendors, local food trucks, live music on stage, a giant kid’s zone equipped with rides and games and more.
According to Oakley Councilmember Anissa Williams, last year’s celebration and parade, with around 30 businesses participating, led to a bump in business for all of the businesses surrounding the not yet open Mercantile – the brick building on Main St. With the Mercantile now housing multiple open businesses, they are hoping to get various downtown businesses involved with pop-up booths near the parade’s staging area.
This year, the parade sign-ups are sitting at just below 30 and, according to Williams, the city and the Chamber of Commerce is hoping to double that.
“The whole point of the parade is to one, bring attention to businesses in our community and surrounding communities,” Williams said. “And two, just be a good time for all the kids.”
David Travers, the owner of Fancy Ferriage by Horse and Carriage, participated in last year’s anniversary parade, carrying multiple dignitaries of the city on two horse-drawn carriages. For this year’s parade, Travers said that Williams and the chamber of commerce requested his participation.
“We’re going to run a late 1800s mud wagon stagecoach that was made by ML Henderson in Stockton, CA,” Travers said.
Any businesses in Oakley and its surrounding towns are able to sign up for participation in the parade, as the city’s goal is take a regional approach on economic development, Williams said. The theme for this year’s parade is Oakley’s Past, Present, and Future. The deadline to signup is May 31 — click here.
According to Williams, this year will be the first year that the chamber of commerce is hosting the Summer Fest.
“We’re handing off the torch and having the chamber really start to be more ingrained in all of the business community,” Williams said. “Since it’s such a young chamber, we want it to be able to do all of the great business building events that a chamber should do.”
The chamber of commerce is aiming to host the parade and festival annually to celebrate Oakley’s cityhood and continue to bring the community, and its businesses, together.
“I am super supportive of the summer fest and the parade,” Mayor Shannon Shaw said. “As our city grows, I hope to see more people and businesses be a part of it.”
Oakley Summer Fest Parade
June 28 at 9:00 am
Downtwon Oakley
More info + Sign up – click here
