Longtime parade planner overcomes all barriers
Within the span of a few minutes Sunday night, the man charged with planning the Patriots’ Super Bowl parade realized his week was about to get a lot busier, but putting title celebrations together on short notice has become old hat for Ed Jacobs.
“Last night I was thinking, ‘Well, I can relax,’ and then, ‘Oh my God, we have a parade to produce,’ ” Jacobs, the CEO of Interstate Rental Service, told the Herald.
Jacobs has planned numerous big events for the city, including 45 Boston Marathons. Today will be his ninth championship parade; he’s covered every title since the Patriots beat the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Jacobs and his company are responsible for securing a dozen permits, laying 26,000 feet of steel barricades along the route, and coordinating with the city, police, fire and media.
“It’s about relationships; that’s what Boston is all about,” he said.
Everything from putting together the floats to ensuring proper confetti-cannon safety is taken into account. This is the second straight Pats parade with inclement weather in the forecast, but Jacobs said that’s one detail he doesn’t worry about.
“We drive very carefully and we dress for it, but I learned a long time ago I can’t change the weather,” Jacobs said. “People will show up and maybe they’ll remember how wet they were, but they will have a great time.”
Given the volume of Boston titles in the past decade-plus, Jacobs said he may be the foremost championship parade planner in the nation, but his reign had a rocky start in 2004, when a police officer questioned why his crew was setting up barricades at 1 a.m. after the Red Sox’ World Series win.
“They called me and asked, ‘When was the last time you did this?’ ” Jacobs said. “I said, ‘Eighty-six years ago.’ ”
Jacobs took over the company from his dad, Cy, another lifelong Boston sports fan. The elder Jacobs passed away in 2005, but saw his son plan a Pats celebration and the first Sox parade in nearly a century.