Residents that live on Grand Avenue in Carthage, Missouri, section off street-side viewing spots to watch the 56th Annual Maple Leaf Parade. A portion of the parade will travel south on Grand Avenue.
CARTHAGE, Mo. — Residents of Carthage living along the route for Saturday’s annual Maple Leaf Parade are marking their territory, making sure that, come Saturday morning, they’ve got the best view on the block.
On Thursday, those living on Grand Avenue started setting up lawn chairs and marking off street-side sections in front of their homes.
Residents on Grand say claiming a front-row spot early is a must.
In years past, the prep work that went into claiming a good viewing location was done the day before the Maple Leaf Festival, but now, residents along the parade route say if they don’t section off viewing areas several days ahead of time, they’ll most likely risk losing a great vantage point.
“We really have to mark off the spot in front of our house where we plan to watch the parade. If we didn’t, those spots would fill up quickly on Saturday morning, and before you know it, the parade has started and there’s five or six people deep, all lined up on the side of the street, directly in front of our home, and then you’ve lost a great spot to watch the parade from. So, like most of our neighbors on Grand, we got out today and roped off the area in front of the house,” said Carthage resident, Ron Peterson.
The 56th Annual Maple Leaf Parade kicks off at 9:00 a.m., this Saturday, October 15th on the Carthage Square.
A detailed map of the parade route, like the one below, can be found HERE, which also includes parking information.
A map of the 56th Annual Maple Leaf Parade route. The parade begins at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, October 15th on the historic Carthage Square, and ends at the Carthage Middle School. (Map courtesy: Carthage Police Department)
Carthage Police say any vehicle parked along the parade route will be towed, if not moved before 7:00 a.m. Saturday.
If you can’t make it to Carthage for the parade, you can watch it from home. KSN-TV 16 (NBC affiliate) will broadcast the 2022 Maple Leaf Parade live on TV.
OR — if you can’t catch it on TV, we’ll also offer a free live stream of the parade that will be available on Fourstateshomepage.com. The high-quality stream will start at 9:00 a.m. Saturday (10/15). Our live stream allows you to watch and listen to the parade from anywhere in the world! If you can’t attend in person or watch on television, we STRONGLY encourage you to check it out!