The history of the Milford Community Parade

The Milford Community Parade has been welcoming the community once a year since 1939 to its themed local, hometown parade.

The Milford Community Parade (also known as the Milford Halloween Parade) is an event that takes place for close to two miles through the town of Milford.

The parade was originated by the Milford Jaycees and passed onto Milford Parks and Recreation and Jim Gray, the Chairman of the Board for the parade committee since 1985.

Jim Gray, 79, a member of the Milford Jaycees in the late 60s, helped start the town's Pop Warner football and organize the parade and was eventually named chairman.

Jim Gray said he was always fond of the parade and doing things for the city of Milford.

“My idea was to bring as many people as I could downtown to see that Milford does have something,” he said.

Back in the 70s, the parade was small and only 30 minutes long, with four bands and costumed locals marching down the route. The parade grew to 22 bands from all across Delaware and Maryland.

“In Milford, we needed something to draw in people and with our help, with our family and friends, we have succeeded,” he said. “I enjoy doing it (the parade); I got my whole family involved, plus probably five other people.”

Jim Gray carries many memories from the years based on parade participants like Miss Delaware, the Governor Ruth Ann Minner, and others.

Jim Gray said he hopes that in the future his family will keep the spirit and knowledge as he does for the parade because ”there is nobody else in Milford that can do it better.”

One of his sons, Charles Gray, 48, is the Chairperson for the Milford Community Parade.

Charles Gray started as a member of the parade committee after his father took over in 1985 and began attending the meetings.

Charles Gray said he was initially asked by his father, Jim Gray, to draw a pumpkin for a clockmaker who made wooden pumpkin clocks as trophies for the first three years. As the years went by, he became more involved and organized a new layout for the participants that is still used today.

Jim Gray asked his son to become the parade’s chairperson in the mid-90s. Charles Gray briefly stepped away from the parade in the late ‘90s, but returned as chairperson in 2005.

Throughout the years, the parade has evolved from a Halloween parade to one that focuses more on the community as a whole and embraces more patriotic roots.

During the gap of not having the parade for a couple years back around 2008, the city took more control over the parade due to the safety for the participants and viewers. Throughout the years, the town has refined the various rules and regulations of the parade, its route and its participants for the safety of all. Throughout the changes, Charles Gray said he's enjoyed being a part of the committee and watching people bring in generations of families together at the parade.

Charles Gray has seen people riding elephants, an ox, snow trucks supporting breast cancer research, and people wearing unique costumes on the parade route.

The past year was an election year and the parade had a patriotic theme. Charles Gray described the committees’ anxiety as high because they didn’t know how things would turn out due to people ramping up their views and opinions towards the candidates, as the election got closer.

“I can say without any doubt that the participants and the spectators were all very respectful for one another,” he said.

“We had a very respectful parade and it went off without a hitch. No one was offended and no one tried to offend anybody,” he said. “That spoke a lot about our parade and the community that we are in and that was awesome.”

Elwood Story, 33, is a volunteer/member for the committee and has been a part of the parade since 1991. He said he does a little bit of everything, from getting things set up the day prior to cleaning up after the parade is finished.

Story grew up watching his grandfather Jim Gray get the parade set up would get excited on helping them out when the time came around. Helping out his grandparents was what persuaded him to be a member of the Milford Community Parade.

Story describes the parade as a family event for people to come out and join the floats and firetrucks that comes by.

Even though he has seen the parade dwindle in size recently, Story has high hopes for its future.

“I’m hoping that the parade will go on with more and more generations in the family,” he said. “I hope it doesn’t die off and I hope that the younger generation will eventually take it over.”

Marlee Gray, 11, is one of the youngest members of the parade and helps take charge of the committee's float. She helps build and create the float based on its theme, and sometimes on the float to help represent the committee’s mascot, Scarecrow Bob. She started being a part of the floats when she was 7 years old.

Marlee said she takes part in a lot of different groups and activities and hopes to possibly be the next treasurer or chairperson.

This year’s theme for the parade is “To the Stars and Beyond,” and Marlee Gray has some ideas already in store for the committee’s float.

“This year I was actually thinking maybe 'Star Wars' at first, but I want to do something different,” she said. “So this year, we are doing 'E.T'.”

This parade will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in downtown Milford. The committee is open to donations, and entries for the parade, vendors and volunteers online through the milfordparade.com.

The Milford Community Parade welcomes participants and spectators to enjoy a fun, local parade. Photos provided by Milford Community Parade.

The Milford Museum is one of the local organizations to participate in the parade. Photos provided by Milford Community Parade.