Burbank Leader , CA
LATimes.com
June 26 2004
Officials keep parade date
Burbank on Parade keeps date, but will consider move in 2010 and
2021 to avoid overlap with Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
By Jackson Bell, The Leader
BURBANK – Burbank on Parade will continue its tradition of running on
the fourth Saturday in April, but will reopen talks of rescheduling
the parade the next time it conflicts with Armenian Genocide
Remembrance Day on April 24.
Keeping the fourth Saturday in April is necessary because other
events and holidays – including Fire Service Day and National Police
Week, school band competitions and Easter weekend – make it difficult
to permanently switch the parade, event Chairwoman Joanne Miller said
Friday. But the parade will consider rescheduling in 2010 and 2021,
the next two years the occasions coincide.
The somber day of remembrance is a time when many of the city’s
estimated 10,000 Armenian-American residents spend the day at homes,
churches or rallies throughout the area, remembering victims who died
during the 1915 massacre, local Armenian leaders said. The parade
this year was on April 24 and drew criticism from the Armenian-
American community.
“My personal opinion is that this is the best decision because the
parade will go in a normal fashion without upsetting every other
community event or school event,” Miller said. “And at the same time,
it’s not offending the Armenian-American community by disregarding
their day of mourning.”
Miller met with about a dozen parade organizers, leaders of the
city’s Armenian-American community and city officials Thursday to
discuss the parade organizers’ decision.
Some Armenian-American leaders, however, felt the parade’s proximity
to April 24 still will exclude many in their community who are
usually active in various activities to commemorate the genocide.
“It’s very ironic that it is supposed to be an opportunity to bring
all Burbank together and the net result is to exclude some 10% of the
community,” said Garen Yegparian, chairman of community relations for
the Armenian National Committee’s Burbank chapter.
The controversy started in mid-February, when organizers failed to
consider the conflict when setting this year’s parade to run April
24.
The planning gaffe upset the Armenian-American community and prompted
Mayor Marsha Ramos to have a meeting April 1 to open dialogue between
the two sides.
Planning was too far along to change the date, because $25,000 was
already spent and the parade was already being publicized when the
error was discovered, officials said.
Ramos said Thursday’s meeting ended the three months of dialogue to
resolve the conflict.
“Both sides came to the terms they discussed very thoroughly,” she
said. “Because they were involved in the decision-making process,
there is a clear direction for the future.”