Pensacola Officials Looking into Moving Some Parades from Normal Route

Pensacola officials are looking into the cost of putting on parades downtown -- especially after low turnout this year for the Fiesta parade.

"The vast majority of putting out barricades, police, and fire... those things that just got more expensive with additional security are at the feet of the city," says Pensacola Mayor DC Reeves. He adds that "bed tax, or anything like that (that's generated) isn't going to the city."

Reeves says one option could be to look into lower cost route options -- such as running parades on Bayfront Parkway instead of the normal route of Garden and Palafox.

"I kind of think something needs to be done," says Reeves. "One of the conversations we've had...do we come up long term with a different route that's more manageable, more cost-effective..." Reeves says parades with fewer people could possibly be accommodated on Bayfront Parkway where only one side of the road has to be defended instead of two.

The city is planning to begin work on the "Reimagine Palafox" project next year -- once that happens Reeves says parades will probably be temporarily relocated, and that could be a good test run for other parade route possibilities.

You can hear the entire conversation between Mayor DC Reeves and Pensacola Morning News Host Andrew McKay on the PMN Podcast.