Canonsburg officials, residents compromise over parade chairs

CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A western Pennsylvania borough council has crafted a compromise to a long-sitting problem.

Canonsburg borough's Fourth of July Committee wants to limit how soon residents can put chairs along the borough's Independence Day parade route because some folks have begun putting up chairs to save their seats nearly two weeks in advance.

Council members said that's unsafe and, earlier this year, proposed to ban the chairs until 6 a.m. each July 4.

But now council plans to vote in two weeks on a rule that will let residents put the chairs out two days earlier.

They're doing that because the chair-placing has become an event unto itself, with a local civic group giving out cash prizes for the most flamboyantly decorated seats.

Officials hope the compromise will reduce safety problems but not dampen the pre-parade tradition.

WPXI