North Aurora parade will travel new route

The second annual North Aurora Community Parade will step off from Clock Tower Plaza at 2 p.m. Sunday.

With the theme “Rolling to the River,” the parade will also showcase royalty, with its first king and queen.

Once the procession leaves from Oak Street and Randall Road, it will march east on Oak to Adams Street, south on Adams to State Street, and east on State to Island Park. The route is slightly different from last year's to avoid road construction at Oak and Route 31.

More than 35 clubs, groups and businesses have signed up to march. The North Aurora River District Alliance is throwing a party at the park after the parade. Southpaw, the mascot of the Chicago White Sox, is participating, as is the West Aurora High School dance team.

The different route does have an upside.

“It does allow the route to go through more of a residential part of the neighborhood,” said parade Chairwoman Nicole Ferrier of the North Aurora Mothers Club.

Bryce Johnson, a senior at West Aurora High School, and Kelly Keiffer, a senior at Rosary High School, are king and queen and will be in the next-to-last-unit, right before the Mothers Club's float. Each student will receive a $500 college scholarship.

Ferrier said the club added the king and queen to increase teens' interest in the parade. She borrowed the idea from the Lombard Lilac parade, for which she volunteered as a teen.

At the post-parade party, NOARDA will have its rubber duck race to raise money for its work of improving the riverfront. Tickets are $5 per duck, or $20 for a “Quack Pack” of five. The ducks will be dropped in the Fox River at 4 p.m. The first to make it to the finish line will be awarded a cash prize.

For more parade information, visit northauroramothersclub.org.

The North Aurora Community Parade

<b>When</b>: 2 p.m. Sunday.

<b>Where</b>: The parade will run from Oak Street (at Randall Road) east to Adams Street, south on Adams to State Street and east on State to Island Park.

<b>Road closures: </b>

• 1:45 to 4 p.m.: Oak Street between Randall Road and Route 31.

• During the parade: Adams Street between Oak and State; State Street between Adams and Grant, Grant Street between State Street and River Road, according to police.

Parking: There will be no parking on Oak Street, Adams Street, Monroe Street and Grant Street from 8 a.m. until after the parade. Vehicles will be towed at the owner's expense, police said.

<b>Maps and details:</b>

• For a copy of the parking restrictions map, visit vil.north-aurora.il.us.

• For a map of the parade route, visit vil.north-aurora.il.us/pdf/Parade-Route2011.pdf.

• For general information: northauroramothersclub.org.