Colorama Parade is on for Saturday

It will start at 11 a.m., just as it has for decades, but for a few hours, chamber leaders thought the upcoming annual Colorama Parade on Saturday would have to be canceled.

In fact, it was called off on Monday afternoon. Until about 5 a.m. Tuesday.

That's when the executive director of the chamber got an email from the Grant County Sheriff's Office, saying they would, after all, be able to send three deputies in cars to help with traffic control.

Closing two intersecting state highways for an hour is not exactly a simple matter. It takes a contract with the state Department of Transportation detailing how traffic will be rerouted and where credentialed police will be stationed to direct traffic.

For the Colorama Parade, that for years has included a detour using Grand Coulee's B Street and Industrial Road, the Bureau of Reclamation's currently closed road that passes in front of the fire station that has been under construction since 2016.

That's all gone fairly smoothly in the past, although a long response time is not unusual for a change to be approved by a federal bureaucracy coordinating with a construction firm in charge of its site.

But times are changing and situations are in flux. Grand Coulee's police chief retired in March and the city as not hired a new chief yet for a department that was already short an officer and is missing more due to leave-taking or illness.

The annual ask to open the perpetually fenced off Industrial Road was initially sought months ago, but recent queries on the progress of that request have gone unanswered, by anyone, said Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Nancy Zimmerman Boord, herself new to that position.

Two Coulee Dam Police officers, learning on Monday of the dire need, offered to help cover the event, but they would have to leave if called out. Boord thought that could be workable if enough other officers were on hand to man the other posts, but they weren't.

Tribal police were willing but not credentialed to work in Grant County. Boord had inquired about the county sheriff's office personnel earlier but wasn't getting an answer.

"Nobody was saying yes, but they weren't saying no," she said.

Finally, knowing she had to decide whether to alert signed-up parade participants and the community, Boord sent emails to her board of directors, other community stakeholders that the parade was going to have to be canceled.

"Due to police staffing shortages and health issues, we do not have the required police support to meet WSDOT's traffic management requirements," she wrote.

That got some attention.

Early Tuesday morning, Boord received an email from Gary Mansford, chief deputy of investigations at the Grant County Sheriff's Office, offering the three officers, which was later increased to four.

That offer made the parade possible, Boord said, so she spent the morning contacting people at Reclamation to find the latest person to be assigned to the fire station construction project.

Eight contacts later, the road opening was agreed to.

If you attend the parade, you might consider thanking anyone you see who is involved.

Saturday is predicted to be sunny and in the 80s. Don't forget your sunscreen.