Rotary club uses parade as way to help foundation

Balloon handlers plan to donate funds to help fight polio

The Hutchinson & Steffen law firm?s giant eagle balloon flies through the trees during the 2008 Summerlin Council Patriotic Parade. Members of the Rotary Club of Las Vegas Northwest, who are working as balloon handlers in this year?s parade, plan to donate their earnings to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. view file photo Advertisement

When the 16th annual Summerlin Council Patriotic Parade marches down the streets Saturday, it won't just bring smiles to the faces of locals, it also will be helping a good cause overseas.

The Rotary Club of Las Vegas Northwest will be walking this Independence Day so that others won't be crippled for life by polio.

The money its members are paid as balloon handlers in the parade will go to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which supports inoculating children against polio. Each helium balloon handler earns $30, and the club plans to send about two dozen members to walk in the parade.

According to the foundation, in 1988, more than 125 countries were considered polio-endemic, and now only four are. Rotary club member Joe Germain said polio is something that most Americans never think about "and yet it's just a plane ride away."

Last year, the group donated $600 to the polio vaccination campaign. At the district conference, held the weekend of June 12, the chapter was recognized with an award applauding its international service.

The parade is scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. The route is planned to begin at the corner of Hillpointe Road and Hills Center Drive in The Trails village of Summerlin. Participants will travel south on Hills Center Drive toward the Village Center Circle roundabout before heading west on Trailwood Drive. The parade will end at the corner of Trailwood Drive and Spring Gate Lane.

Rotarians will be handling promotional balloons and those with patriotic symbols. Handlers must keep the high-flying balloons safe from tree branches.

"They're not as big as the ones in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but they're pretty hefty," said Dennis Filangeri, who was a balloon handler last year and has signed up again this year.

His wife, Judith, also plans to return to the parade as a balloon handler.

"We did it last year and had a ball, following up with a barbecue at our place," she said.

Filangeri said the group plans to thread its walkers, handing off the ropes and turning the balloons around as space permits, "just to keep things interesting."

Residents also can expect to see more than 60 parade entries, including traditional floats, hear bands, watch performing groups and see a variety of popular storybook characters. New 2010 parade entries include Liberty Belle: A Showboat Celebration featuring "The Princess and the Frog," Visions of Candy Land, A Tribute to Lady Liberty, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and Summer of the Shark -- a giant, 25-foot inflatable shark balloon.

Traditional parade entries will include All Star Salute to the Military, Spirit of '76, Undersea Jubilee, Let Freedom Sing and a 33-foot giant American eagle helium balloon.

Also expect to see Ashley Brown, the teen winner for Little Miss Nevada, and her "Princess of the Day," Miyun Clemons, a recent graduate of Desert Pines High School who was diagnosed with sickle-cell disease at age 5. Both will be riding in the parade.

The parade is coordinated by The Summerlin Council, with title sponsors The Howard Hughes Corp., developer of Summerlin; Securitas; Cox Communications; Children's Medical Center at Summerlin Hospital; Clear Channel; Las Vegas Color Graphics; and Friendly Ford.

More than 40,000 people are expected to attend. For more information, call 341-5500 or visit www.summerlin.com.

Contact Summerlin and Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.