The Walton High School flag team marching in the East Cobber parade. (East Cobb News photos and slideshow by Wendy Parker)
A host of organizations, schools, churches and businesses took part in the East Cobber parade down Johnson Ferry Road Saturday and a community festival that followed at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church.
Started in 1995 by East Cobber magazine publisher and founder Cynthia Rozzo, the parade has grown to include several dozen organizations representing a wide variety of community life in East Cobb.
Among those walking the 0.8-mile trek from Mt. Bethel Elementary School to Johnson Ferry Baptist were elected officials, civic leaders, scout troops, school bands and cheerleaders, local businesses and librarians shuffling book carts from the Cobb County Public Library System.
Unicyclists from Mt. Bethel Elementary School.The Wheeler High School marching band.Young attendees taking in the sights of a community parade, and waiting for candy thrown by participants.The Pope High School marching band.Members of the East Cobb Rotary Club.The Lady Lions Cheer Team from Smyrna.Students from the Dance Stop studio perform to Aaron Copland.Student from the School of Rock Playing hits from the 1970s.
Check out more photos from the East Cobber parade and festival:
Unicyclists from Mt. Bethel Elementary School are a regular part of the East Cobber parade. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The one Saturday out of the year in which you can actually see unicyclists pedaling down Johnson Ferry Road is this Saturday. That means it’s time for the East Cobber parade, which begins at 10 a.m. and includes some significant closures along one of East Cobb’s busiest traffic arteries.
If you’ve experienced this before, the schedule is familiar, and remains essentially the same. Cobb Police will be shutting down Johnson Ferry Road between Roswell Road and Johnson Ferry Road between 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.
There may be some changes to this, in terms of time and precise closure points. Sometimes you can drive all the way to Princeton Lakes Drive, where the parade route begins, out of Mt. Bethel Elementary School, up until around 9:45 a.m.Â
It’s best to observe the 9:30-11 window, and the Roswell-Lower Roswell boundaries, especially to give yourself time to find parking and a vantage point, and in case there are any logistical changes.
Woodlawn Drive will remain open, and is a good route to find a place to watch the parade—the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church parking lot will be available—but expect delays due to the closures.
Princeton Lakes Drive will be closed entirely from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday as the parade route assembles at Mt. Bethel Elementary School and heads south on Johnson Ferry Road.
Cobb DOT also is setting up detours at the following intersections, and these too have been done in previous years:
Intersection of Roswell Road and Indian Hills Parkway;
Intersection of Lower Roswell Road and Indian Hills Parkway;
Intersection of Roswell Road and Timber Ridge Road;
Intersection of Lower Roswell Road and Timber Ridge Road.
If you can’t get to the parade but want to watch, it’s being streamed live on East Cobber‘s Facebook page (link here) and Instagram account (link here).
The festival begins at 11 a.m. in the Johnson Ferry Baptist parking lot near the athletic fields. Here’s a full list of parade and festival participants. Here’s more on this weekend’s events in East Cobb.
