Water guns to make a return at downtown Marshall's Mermaid Parade? Residents wonder
MARSHALL - While access to guns is one of the most hotly contested issues throughout the country, more locally, the issue of water guns has become a hot topic in Madison County.
The Mermaid Parade has been attracting visitors to downtown Marshall from all over the country for 16 years. But last year, the event banned water guns for the first time, and the Downtown Marshall Association said attendance last year was down as a result of the water gun ban.
Downtown Marshall Association coordinates the Mermaid Parade, and its Director Alexandra Arden joined with Downtown Marshall Association member Hollie West to meet with the Marshall Town Board Feb. 19 to discuss the parade, which routinely sees the biggest attendance annually to downtown Marshall.
"We had discussed the idea before of potentially bringing back a water feature at the parade, just given last year we noticed there was a lackluster, a little bit less attendance," Arden said. "I know there have been some complaints in the past of people driving past, and getting squirted with water."
Last year, the Marshall Town Board scrapped the water gun component of the parade, citing complaints from attendees, as alluded to by Arden.
So, the Downtown Marshall Association proposed to the board a "splash zone" feature for the upcoming June parade.
"We thought that maybe a nice solution, or a give and take, would be having a Splash Zone, just on Back Street (Jerry Plemmons Way)," Arden said. "It's a definitive line of, 'Start here, end here,' which we can figure out. But, we've had a lot of people ask about it, and, you know, just kind of bring that back but not have it a full portion of the parade."
West said she felt confining the proposed splash zone to one section of the downtown area could potentially ease traffic concerns at the Madison County Courthouse as well.
"This could also help alleviate a lot of the congestion at the courthouse, and that intersection, which tends to be the really big one," West said. "So, the water enthusiasts could be on Back Street to engage in such play."
For last year's event, in place of the water guns, the town and Downtown Marshall Association pushed a bubbles theme.
But according to West, the bubbles fell flat to the water guns.
"Being on the float, and having been there all day, it was rather hot, and it was something to look forward to within the parade, just from personal experience," West said. "It did have less of an energy — just doing the bubbles — that we have been known for. And people do come for that experience."
In the 2022 parade, one particular float utilized cannon blaster water guns, which Arden and West said would not be allowed in the proposed splash zone.
"I will talk to that one particular float that has the cannons, like, 'We can't do that,'" West said. "It's very regulated. We want to ease it back in. It's not a full bore situation. We've been in discussions with (Town Administrator) Forrest (Gilliam) if we can consider this an olive branch and a flag, and if we could just do it in this one spot."
Board member Billie Jean Haynie proposed the splash zone be confined to Blannahassett Island.
"That takes it farther away from all the people who would be in town, that might be splashed and not want to be splashed," Haynie said. "You're not going to be able to control them on Back Street like you would if they were on the island. It's very easy to come off of Back Street, and right there you are at the courthouse."
Gilliam and board member Christiaan Ramsey elaborated on Haynie's suggestion.
Gilliam said the main issue is ensuring safety of parade attendees.
"Have it be contained in a space on the island and not part of the parade," Gilliam said. "Because that's one of the concerns. There are a lot of concerns about it. People getting sprayed that don't want to is one concern.
"The big concern is kids and adults chasing each other around moving vehicles. That's probably the biggest, 'What are we going to do about that?' situation. I'd say getting them to stop and start where they need to is going to be a — I don't think they will. But, I think that if you do it at any portion of the parade, it just doesn't make sense to have that — to have kids, mixed with moving on an open road where we don't have the full closure. That's going to be an issue if you do it at any part of the parade."
Gilliam recommended keeping the splash zone as a contained, stationary event on the island, "or on private property somewhere else."
In West's view, the issue of containing the splash zone to Blannahassett Island would potentially create some redundancy.
"It's already Splash Island with the inflatables, so splashing is already occurring," West said.
According to West, the water gun component "is what made our parade unique."
"That's what drew people," West said. "The rest of what we have done with the event has also drawn people. But we are still getting berated with, 'Is there going to be water at the parade this year?' So, we're trying to find a way. We're open to discussion, how we can include this in a contained manner.
"We know, parades are herding cats. And that, we understand, is our job, and it is our issue to address. So, that's why we're trying to keep this as an open discussion, to see where we can find our middle ground."
Gilliam raised the issue of security and police presence.
"It's a lot of people," Gilliam said. "We've got a very limited capacity to handle that number of people, and in fact, were there an emergency situation, it would be a tough situation for us.
"But, I just think some things — it's fun to ride up and down the bypass in a truck, but it's not safe. It's fun to do a lot of things, but we've had to have somebody come in and say you can't. It's ridiculous, because most rules, somebody's done something that they should have known better than to do. It's just the reality of it."
Marshall Police Chief Mike Boone said the interplay of moving vehicles with thrown objects, including water, creates an unsafe setting.
"And getting you off of Main Street onto Jerry Plemmons would be great," Boone said. "Reducing the number of people at the courthouse would be wonderful. However, Year 4, when we had the water, it seemed like there were 1,000 kids down there at the fire department, running around squirting water, and how do you control that? You can't."
'I probably won't come back'
Board member Laura Ponder Smith said she wondered whether a splash zone would be observed. She said flatly she "probably won't be coming back" to the parade after multiple years in which she was squirted with water.
"I'm trying to look at it as a whole, but being an adult and getting squirted — and my personal feelings can't go with what's best for the town and the Mermaid Parade — but getting squirted point-blank, right in the face and then gone, I haven't been in three years, and I probably won't come back," Ponder Smith said.
"I did not enjoy it. My father did not enjoy getting hit. It's comments like that. I'd imagine more people enjoy the water than don't."
Haynie said she hopes the town and Downtown Marshall Association can strike a balance between those who enjoy the water component and those who don't.
"I think the people who are shooting the water enjoy that, and then the people who are getting shot with the water don't," Haynie said. "You've got to balance it. And I think we hear all of the, 'I don't want to be shot with water.' We have so many people that are saying that to us, and we've got to listen to them and try to come up with an option where the people who want to shoot, there's got to be some education to it."
According to West, Downtown Marshall Association's website offers information on its Mermaid Parade event page with FAQs.
"There's a frequently asked questions, and we have a full Mermaid event page like, Where can you shoot water, Should you bring your dog, Where can I park," West said. "So, we're doing our due diligence. So we are attempting to do such things."
Haynie said she wishes to keep thinking about it.
"I want everybody to be happy, and I feel like there's a large number of people who do not like the water part," Haynie said. "If we could just put it somewhere where it's not so visible. But we can talk about it. We have time. We need to just all think about it."
The town administrator said while there is time, he thinks it's going to be difficult to have the water component in the parade.
West said last year's event had between 3,000 to 4,000 people, down from 5,000 at its peak.
Still, she was optimistic about reaching an agreement, and about the parade in general.
"I wanted to open this door so that we could have this discussion," West said. "It is amping up to be another great festival for downtown Marshall."
The Downtown Marshall Association will meet Feb. 26 to discuss the Mermaid Parade.
Johnny Casey has covered Madison County for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel for three years. He earned a first-place award in beat news reporting in the 2023 North Carolina Press Association awards. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Water guns to make a return at downtown Marshall's Mermaid Parade?
