A good day for a parade

<p>Thousands of people who cheered on student bands, service groups, veterans and others in the Luther Burbank Rose Parade Saturday clung to hope that Santa Rosa’s 115-year tradition would continue, buoyed by word that two local philanthropists had committed seed money for next year’s parade.</p><p>Burbank Elementary School sixth-grader Daisy Ayala said it all with the cardboard placard she carried with her school band Saturday.</p><p>“Thank you Mr. Ratto and Mr. Trione,” it said, a reference to North Bay Corp. President James Ratto and entrepreneur and philanthropist Henry Trione, who have stepped forward to support the event.</p><p>“We’re going to keep our fingers crossed it’s not the last one,” said Kristin Colgrove, who marched in the parade for six years as a student musician and Saturday watched with her own two children from E Street.</p><p>Colgrove said she’d hoped her kids, Haley and Matthew, both Hidden Valley Elementary students, would one day be a part of the tradition. She confessed to shedding a few tears at the prospect of its demise.</p><p>“I’ve been crying since it started,” she said with a sad smile.</p><p>“You don’t want to give up small town - parents pushing strollers, dogs in wagons,” said Linda Sands, who came with extended family to watch her teen-age grandchildren march with the Rincon Valley Christian School band. “I hate to see a town give up a small town institution.”</p><p>Organizers said they are loath to do so, as well, but say declining sponsorship has made it increasingly difficult to stage the event, even after doing away this year with a companion festival that followed the parade for the past 14 years.</p><p>The total cost remains about $60,000, $20,000 of it raised at the last minute with a single donation from North Bay’s Ratto.</p><p>Attendance has diminished, as well, though coordinator Judy Walker and others said they thought there were more spectators this year than last. Crowd estimates were difficult because the parade route was shortened, condensing the crowd even as they squished further into whatever shade could be found on a warm, sunny day.</p><p>Some spectators thought the crowd was smaller.</p><p>“I’m very disappointed that more people aren’t here today,” Noelle Preston said as she cheered for a group of Vietnam veterans with her 10-year-old son, Nate.</p><p>Many said they wished they could be more regular with their attendance, but had so many competing demands for their family’s time.</p><p>“I think it’s just the busyness of life,” longtime parade-goer Ingrid Darling, 72, said. “The world is going way too fast these days.”</p><p>The numbers game has always been mostly about guessing anyway, with organizers putting recent attendance at about 10,000 a year after several years in which estimates were two or three times that.</p><p>The parade itself featured nearly 4,000 participants, but where it often takes about 2 1/4 hours to complete, the parade was over this year in 1 3/4 hourse, Walker said.</p><p>The Sweepstakes award went to the Sonoma County Farm Bureau Foundation, sponsored by the Redwood Credit Union.</p><p>The Rincon Valley Christian School Marching Eagles won the John Bugbee Memorial Perpetual Trophy.</p>