The celebration for the Fourth of July 4 will come a day early on Anna Maria Island.
The Anna Maria Island Privateers’ annual Independence Day Parade was set to step-off from Coquina Beach in Bradenton Beach at 10 a.m. July 4 and travel north to Anna Maria.
Each city in May approved the nonprofit’s parade plan.
It was an oversight all the way.
And it seemed a done deal for the largest island celebration in more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But July 4 is a Sunday.
And in a letter to the Privateers and leadership in the three cities, the Rev. Ed Moss of CrossPointe Fellowship in Holmes Beach requested a change to avoid clashing swords with Sunday morning’s religious services.
The Privateers agreed and, as of June 14, so had two of the three island cities.
“Because the Privateers celebrate and honor our country’s freedoms and independence for all Americans, we have elected to change the July 4 parade to July 3 to allow island church parishioners and followers of Christ to attend Sunday morning services without any disruption,” AMIP president Kim “Syren” Boyd told the Anna Maria commission June 10. “We apologize if this change causes any further inconvenience, but we believe in freedom for everyone in this island community that we love so much.”
A request to change the permit date will be heard June 17 by Bradenton Beach commissioners.
Holmes Beach commissioners approved the permit change June 9 and Anna Maria commissioners followed June 10.
Anna Maria approved the plan to reschedule the parade with a stipulation that the nonprofit contract either two off-duty Florida State Police troopers or two Manatee County sheriff’s deputies — one to lead the processional and one to bring up the rear.
Boyd said the off-duty deputies engaged to work the Sunday date were not available July 3, but two off-duty troopers agreed to work the Saturday parade.
Boyd said the cost to hire the troopers is twice that of hiring deputies, but it’s a cost the nonprofit is willing to pay.
The solution didn’t work for some.
In a June 10 email to Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy, Nikki Kaleta, owner of Boutique Vacation Rentals & Property Management in Holmes Beach, expressed concern about the disruption to vacation arrivals and check-outs July 3.
Saturday is “turnover” day for many vacation rentals and is a busy beach day.
Murphy detailed an additional caveat from Anna Maria commissioners in an email: that vacation rental agents “be notified of the changes to the parade date and time and be advised of the issues regarding massive traffic jams if all check out at the same time.”
The mayor concluded his email saying, “Any help you can provide in making this an orderly parade will be appreciated by all who live in, work in and visit our island community.”
Meanwhile, news of the date change lighted up posts on social media, including The Islander’s Facebook page, where posters overwhelmingly favored holding the July 4 parade on July 4.
And Privateer Tim “Hammer” Thompson posted, “Can we change Christmas to Saturday if it falls on a Sunday? Asking for a Friend.”
The last time the parade fell on Sunday was 2010 and it was celebrated that year on July 4.