The Merrimack parade started about 30 years ago as a Chamber of Commerce event.  In combination with the parade held in Amherst earlier in the day, the Merrimack parade is a tempting event for politicians, and this year four Democratic hopefuls showed up--Gov. Howard Dean, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Bob Graham and Sen. Joe Lieberman.
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Photos: brian@mccarthyplace.com
 
 


Note:
There are of course rules governing candidates' participation in parades.  For example at the Amherst parade, which is held immediately before the Merrimack parade, rules include no throwing of candy, arrive by 9 a.m., and so forth; entrants are also asked to limit their groups to fifty participants.  Another consideration for campaigns is where they fit in the overall scheme of parade and in what order they appear.  Amherst puts top New Hampshire elected officials up in the front of the parade, and this year had the political section at the end of the parade.  Within the political section the five campaigns appeared in the order in which their forms were returned.  For the Merrimack parade, by contrast, the campaigns were put pretty much in the middle and the order of appearance was supposed be alphabetical.  In terms of positioning, Merrimack parade organizer Brenda DuLong observed that, "We try not to put them in front of antique vehicles because it does tend to slow things down and we don't want the antique vehicles to overheat."