Hill Country REACT will be coordinating the annual 4th of July parade up at Startzville, TX, on the south side of Canyon Lake again this year. Hams from any club are welcome to participate, you do not need to be a REACT member in order to volunteer to work this event. Some members of REACT, GVARC and Hayes Caldwell ARES are already scheduled for this event.
Parade line-up starts around 9am, but we need to be in place before then. The parade usually starts at 11am, once the Confederate Air Force completes their traditional annual fly-over. Clean your car / truck / suv / RV / mini-van / motorcycle and be ready to jump in line at the back of the parade after the staging area clears.
Then you can either follow the end of the parade until it turns off near the VFW Post and keep going straight toward Sattler, etc., or you can turn right when you get to FM 3159 and head south toward Hwy 46. There is a short-cut just before FM3159 where the Startz Cafe is located, and you can cut thru there over to FM3159 if you want to. Traffic stacked up after the parade will be surprisingly heavy due to all the tourist traffic down at Cranes Mill State Park, so if you don’t get out of the Staging Area with the rest of us, you might be there for a while.
You are of course welcomed to stay in the Canyon Lake area and enjoy the sights, etc., but most of us prefer to find some place to eat afterward or head on home to recover from the heat.
Those early bird hams who want that taco for breakfast, should plan on meeting around 7am at Startz Cafe, located at 10350 Startz Rd in Startzville. Click on map below for a real Google linked map…
We’re scheduled to meet at 8:15 am at the Startzville VFW Post (just east of Startz Cafe on FM2673) for free donuts and coffee and to get our briefing inside an air conditioned location. Click image for larger view.
The parade will stage / line up down on Old Cranes Mill Road, which is connected to FM 2673 just west of downtown Startzville (west of FM 3159 heading toward Cranes Mill Park). See map of parade route below. Click image for larger view.
Steet level view of the front staging area where Old Cranes Mill Road connects back up with FM 2673. This intersection will be blocked by Comal County Sheriff Deputies right before the start of the parade. All the parade dignitaries will line up here with their convertable cars, etc. All other entries will be lined up along Old Cranes Mill Road, with traffic one-way coming from the other end.
The weather will be hot, almost as hot as Field Day, but the event should be over by noon, before it gets really, really hot. Please bring (and use) sunscreen and wear a hat. Try to stay in the shade if possible. The High for the day is forecast at 97 deg. Looks like a cool front. 🙂
Talk in will be on the 147.140 (+, 179.9 Tone). Parade communications will be on 147.54 simplex to avoid tying up the repeater area wide for just this event.
Need info? Get lost on the day of? Feel free to contact the REACT President, Wade W5ERX, @ mobile number 210-316-4911, or REACT VP, Lee N5NTG, @ mobile number 210-771-7075.
July 4th, 2016 at 11:47 AM
You need to more widely advertise that your event will trap people at the lake.
Signs at local businesses, PSAs on local media (92.1 KNBT), postings on Neighborhood. Com….. While I am patriotic as anyone, my boss is not and doesn’t cars that I’m late to work due to the parade.
July 19th, 2016 at 4:11 PM
Interestingly enough, the VFW Post in Startzville is the sponsor and organizer of the Independence Day July 4th parade, but I got a half dozen phone calls, myself, during the week before the parade asking how to be entered into the parade. I guess nobody knew how to contact the VFW Post’s contact person. Hmm.
This was the 25th annual parade, using the same route on the same day. I did see some banners up advertising the parade and the local papers had advertised it. I would suggest forwarding your constructive criticism to the VFW Post in Startzville so they can do a better job for next year’s parade.