Black History Parade Is Off Again This Year

The Orange County Black History Month Parade has been canceled for the second year in a row, but the Unity Festival traditionally held after the parade will go on, the parade’s organizers said Wednesday.

“We didn’t meet all the conditions that needed to be met,” said Helen Shipp, president of the Orange County Black Historical Commission, which organizes the parade.

She said paperwork for security, city permits and other arrangements was not completed in time, so the commission will concentrate on making sure the same thing does not happen again next year.

“We’re just going to regroup for 1994,” she said.

Tonya Gipson, chairwoman of the parade’s advisory committee, said an average of seven people have attended the monthly parade organization meetings over the past year. She said the committee has about 15 people on its membership list, but that anyone who wanted to help with the parade could attend meetings.

“We’re all volunteers,” she said. “You need enough volunteer hands to pull off anything, and up until two weeks ago there were never any more than seven people attending meetings.”

Gipson said notices on the parade were published in a local black newspaper, the Tri-County Bulletin, and someone donated a phone line so that people could call and offer help. Response was sparse.

“I think it’s unfortunate that with 42,000 black people in Orange County that we can’t get at least 50 people to work on an observance for Black History Month,” she said.

Last year the parade had to be canceled when the city of Santa Ana pulled its financing, citing budget problems. The city had supported the parade for the 12 previous years, and the commission was unable to raise the $7,500 fee for last year’s parade.

This year’s parade was scheduled to be in Tustin, which has the highest percentage of black residents of any city in the county. Shipp said money for the parade was provided through various fund-raising efforts.

While the city of Tustin was not providing funds for the parade, Gipson said officials there have been helpful and the Unity Festival will go on in Tustin as planned.