Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Confederate float in Springdale parade draws complaints
SPRINGDALE — The tidings weren’t all glad Saturday night during the Christmas Parade of the Ozarks. A float by the Arkansas Sons of Confederate Veterans shattered the peace for some.
Alice Gachuzo-Colin of Springdale, who describes herself as a black woman and “a person of peace,” turned her back as the float passed her on Emma Avenue. As she had her back turned, she took a selfie and posted it on social media.
“It was the best parade ever,” Gachuzo-Colin said. “The opening act was Sparky the Fire Dog. But then I looked to the left and saw the Confederate flag.”
The float featured a tent and a man dressed in Confederate uniform.
“It was supposed to be a Christmas parade,” Gachuzo-Colin said. “Everything that goes along with Christmas was supposed to be celebrated. It was completely the wrong place and the wrong time to celebrate your ‘heritage.’”
Members of local Sons of the Confederate Veterans group refused comment Monday. Attempts to contact representatives at the state and national levels by phone and email messages were
not successful.
The Rodeo of the Ozarks sponsored the annual parade, said Rick Culver, executive director of the rodeo and the Benevolent Amusement Association. The float was one of 70 entries by local groups.
“You don’t have Santa Claus in the parade, but you’ve got a Confederate soldier?” Gachuzo-Colin said.
The parade did not feature a Santa Claus because events sponsored that same night in downtown Springdale did feature Santa, Culver said. “So the board decided not to have two.”
Downtown Springdale Alliance organized and sponsored the third annual Christmas on the Creek activities around Shiloh Square on Saturday, according to a statement released Sunday by the group. These events are intentionally planned for the same place and time as the parade to attract the biggest possible crowd.
“These two events are separately managed and funded,” the statement reads.
“We do this parade to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the Christmas season,” said Sach Oliver, a member of the rodeo’s board of directors. “We want to give families a wonderful time of cheer in the season.”
Culver said rodeo organizers wanted the city’s parades to be something for everybody back to that first rodeo in 1944. The rodeo group has organized parades every July 1 and July 4 for the past 74 years.
Rodeo board members adopted the same attitude when the organization began sponsoring the Christmas parade 22 years ago, Culver said.
Groups can register in advance or simply show up on the day of the parade, Culver said. They register with parade volunteers if they want to be considered in judging, he said.
There’s never been a vetting process for determining who could participate in the parade, Oliver said.
“We’ve never needed one,” he said.
The 12 rodeo board members have not had time yet to meet, discuss the incident and determine how they will move forward, Oliver said.
“We want to provide happy, positive experiences to help families enjoy the season,” he said. “That anything happened in the parade that was negative, or hurt anybody’s feelings, we are sorry.”
To the credit of the man on the float, he said nothing inappropriate, Gachuzo-Colin said. She reported hearing a member of the crowd ask if he was looking for slaves. She said the man on the float replied, “No. But we’re looking for Yankees.”
Sons of Confederate Veterans is a “historical, patriotic and non-political organization dedicated to ensuring that a true history of the 1861-1865 period is preserved,” according to the group’s website.
Oliver said if the Sons of the Confederate Veterans had been refused entry in the parade, the group might have protested.
“We could have run into Constitutional issues regarding freedom of speech. I’m a lawyer, and I said we might have to hire a lawyer,” said Oliver, a partner in the Bailey and Oliver Law Firm.
“You don’t have Santa Claus in the parade, but you’ve got a Confederate soldier?” — Alice GachuzoColin of Springdale