No Bands At Parade

The good times will roll in Orange Beach on Fat Tuesday, but you may not see your favorite high school marching band. The city can't pay for many of the parade extras this year and out of town bands are on the economic chopping block.

"I think on of the things people may see when it comes to the slowdown in the economy right now, we've had to cut back on the number of marching bands bands that come from out of town," says Ken Grimes, city manager. "You'll only see the Gulf Shores High School band."

High school usually charge about a thousand bucks to march in a parade. Eliminating all out of town marching bands will save the city about four-thousand dollars. Grimes says the city will rely on sound-systems and recorded music to keep parade-goers happy.

"We have 56 or so entries mostly floats so there's plenty of things to see and do and most of the floats make up with their sound systems," says Grimes.

The Orange Beach Fat Tuesday parade rolls down Beach Boulevard Tuesday at 1:30pm.