Everybody loves a parade, and Michigan’s Great Southwest traditionally hosts one of the largest in the entire state when Blossomtime rolls around. If you’re making plans to attend this year’s Grand Floral Parade through the streets of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, you might want to take into consideration a couple of key notices from the St. Joseph Department of Public Safety released this afternoon.
As hosts for the annual extravaganza, the Cities of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor want everyone to enjoy the day, so they’re offering a heads up alert to some street closures and rules and regulations regarding establishing your chosen viewpoint along the route of the parade.
The 2019 Blossomtime Grand Floral Parade will step off at 1pm on Saturday, May 4th, with road closures in St. Joseph slated to go into effect at 10am that day, including all masted boat traffic using the Bicentennial Bridge along the I-94 Business Loop.
Traffic entering St. Joseph from the north will be detoured west onto Port Street and then south on Lake Boulevard. Traffic wishing to continue south on M-63 will turn east onto Jones Street or continue south on Lake Boulevard for Business Loop-94. Traffic coming from the south into St. Joseph will be diverted at westbound Jones Street and follow the same route in reverse. The detour will remain in effect until the end of the parade which will be approximately 3:30pm.
In the City of St. Joseph, there will be no parking along the following public streets which will start at 6am on Saturday morning and continue until 4pm at the conclusion of the parade. Any vehicles parked in these areas will be ticketed or towed away:
- 500 through 1000 blocks of State Street
- 500 and 600 blocks of Market, Pearl, Park, Price and Jones Streets
- 700 through the 1000 blocks of Court Street
- 700 and 800 blocks of Park, Price, Jones and Hoyt Streets
- 1000 block of Church Street
- 700 through 1100 blocks of Pearl Street
For residents and businesses located along Anchor’s Way, please be aware that the Bicentennial Bridge will be closed from 10am to approximately 4pm on Saturday, May 4, 2019. You will be able to exit the area, however you must head into St. Joseph and follow the detour. Please drive very slowly and use caution as emergency vehicles may travel against traffic in those lanes. You will not be able to make entry into that area while the parade route is closed.
Blankets and chairs in the City of St. Joseph will not be allowed to be placed along the parade route until 6am on parade day. Any blankets or chairs placed before that time will be removed and taken to the St. Joseph Department of Public Services located on Broad Street in St. Joseph.
Anybody with questions regarding the closures and timelines can reach out to Interim Director Steve Neubecker at the St. Joseph Department of Public Safety at 269-985-0300.
