BOUNTIFUL — Lots of hands and cool heads make for a successful Handcart Days Parade.

Among the hundreds of volunteers who will make it look like a smooth, easy operation this year are 47 amateur radio or “ham” operators.

They’ll be there at the Five Points Roundabout on 1500 South mid-afternoon, July 23, lining floats and entries up, making sure each group is properly situated to make the parade stroll up Main Street to Bountiful City Park.

And they’ll be doing a lot more than that, says Gary Johnson, who is in his ninth year coordinating much of the behind-the-scenes magic that makes the parade run.

Preparations started in March for this year’s ham operators’ involvement, which is multi-faceted.

At the parade staging area, ham operators print maps determining where various entries should be placed. Entries start arriving at the staging area several hours before the parade’s start.

Ham operators call out every entry before the parade, to determine who might not have shown up, or is late.

With dozens of entries, it could spell disaster to randomly place horses next to bands, and the LDS Primary children must be properly taken care of prior to the big event.

Entries have to be properly spaced and timed, although that can get a bit tricky when a high school band wants to stop in place and perform for a bit, as do some entries of the motorized variety, at times.

“We’re also like float doctors,” Johnson says, referring to the tow trucks kept on hand to move disabled entries out of harm’s way, if need be, or assure that they make it to the end of the parade.

“The parade always starts at 6 p.m.,” he said, which means the parade went on even when a tardy governor didn’t show up on time. He was placed later in the parade lineup.

Ham operators are interspersed along the parade route at such places as the announcers’ booths, so they can relay any changes necessary in lineup dialogue, in case a change has to be made in an entry’s placement, Johnson explains.

Thanks to the generosity usually of area auto dealers, ham operators also use their trucks to shuttle parade volunteers to their appointed spots.

There is also a “shadow,” or ham operator, tagging every parade official, called into action to provide communication if there is a problem, he says.

“We spend pretty much all day (on the 23rd) involved with the Bountiful parade, and then have to be at the Days of 47 Parade early the next morning,” Johnson says.

The hams, who are officially known as members of the Davis County Amateur Radio Club, also assist with parades in Clearfield, Kaysville, Layton, Centerville and West Bountiful.

They also assist with races, with many members CERT certified (Certified Emergency Response Team), which was the original reason for the group’s formation, Johnson said.

The group had its start in 1983, the year the big floods hit Bountiful, Farmington, and elsewhere in the county and beyond.



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