When it rains during the annual Thanksgiving parade – like it did Saturday – Katy Thayer feels the impact at Uva, the wine bar she co-owns on Main Street.
“When the sun was shining, we did probably twice as much business,” Thayer said.
But for the last two years, the weather has been dismal for the parade, resulting in sparse crowds as many people stayed home. That’s put a damper on the mimosa bar Uva offers starting at 8 a.m.
“We do something special just for the parade,” Thayer said. “People come down to get their mimosa while they’re watching the parade.”
Following Saturday’s disappointing turnout, there have been calls – mostly on social media – to add a rain date next year.
But parade organizers say that’s not realistic, which means the downtown businesses that count on the parade for revenue – as well as the thousands of spectators that look forward to it – are likely to remain at the mercy of the weather.
WCVB-Channel 5 televises the parade, but Olly deMacedo, executive director of America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration, which organizes it, said that is not the only reason it would be hard to have a backup date.
“A lot of people travel from far away, and there’s just no way that we could have a rain date,” said deMacedo. As examples, he cited the UMass Amherst Minutemen marching band and people who come from as far away as Iowa to ride on the floats.
“I’d rather have them in the rain” than have a parade without the UMass band, he said.
Select Board member Kevin Canty said he understands the logistical dilemma.
“Many participants travel long distances to attend and the event is televised,” Canty said in an email. “I think a rain date would be very challenging, and potentially impossible, to implement.”
DeMacedo pointed out that in the 27 years that he has run the parade it never rained until the last two years.
“We’ve got to roll with the punches,” he said. “That’s what the Pilgrims did. That’s what so many veterans have done over the years.”
Select Board member Bill Keohan agreed with that sentiment, pointing to generations of New Englanders who have persevered through all kinds of weather.
“We didn’t have delays,” Keohan said. “We persevered. That’s just the New England temperament that led us to a bridge in Concord.”
DeMacedo conceded that downtown business was dampened by the inclement weather.
“Obviously, it’d be better for everybody if it didn’t rain,” he said. “More restaurants would be filled.”
Thayer, too, is resigned to the fact that a rain date isn’t feasible.
“It’s impossible to move the parade,” she conceded. “Especially when it’s being televised. And you have the police involved. Then you have all the people who are marching in the parade and have commitments the following day.”
Other downtown businesses, however, say the rain of the last two years has not affected them.
“As a smaller restaurant, we don’t really feel any difference, no matter the forecast,” said Jordan Chabot, owner of Speedwell Tavern on Main Street, in an email. “It doesn’t take much for us to fill up, and Saturdays in the fall/winter months tend to be busy from the gun no matter what is happening in town. It was a great day no matter what the weather. Plymouth always shows up.”
Deb Tannis, co-owner of Cork + Table, on Court Street, said she did not see much of an impact because the restaurant only opens in the evening.
“By then, the weather had cleared and business was pretty parade day typical,” she said in an email.
For Rick Vayo, the rain brought mixed results at his popular Plimoth General Store on Main Street. He said he didn’t except much retail business on parade day, but food and beverage sales would have been better had the weather cooperated.
“The lesser the crowds, the fewer cups of coffee, the fewer breakfast sandwiches, the fewer impulse purchases of doughnuts,” he said, “and then you don’t have as many people hanging around for nuts and after-parade snacks.”
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org..