KAYSVILLE, Utah — With the holiday approaching, Kaysville is set to host its annual Fourth of July Parade, one year after a tragic accident killed an 8-year-old girl. The town has made several changes in hopes of preventing a similar accident as the parade returns next week.
Macie Hill was performing with her cheer team in last year's parade when she was hit by vehicle that was with the group.
"She was the baby, she was princess of their family," said family spokesperson Ryan Dopp last year.
Dopp added that Macie had the ability to light up a room the minute she walked in.
"The city has been deeply impacted by the loss of Macie," said Kaysville City Manager Jaysen Christensen on Wednesday.
Christensen says city officials performed an extensive review of safety policies with staff members and considered alternatives to parade policies of the past. This year, no exchanges between moving vehicles, floats, trailers and walking participants will be allowed.
"I think we'll still have people passing things out, but those will be passed out from people walking and they won't be able to go and refill their items or candy from the floats and the trailers," he said.
Another change will make sure all walkers taking part in the parade will be required to walk behind the floats, and those riding on floats will have to stay at least a foot-and-a-half back from the edge of the float.
Riders will also be required to stay on the float the entire length of the parade and will only be allowed to hop off in case of an emergency. There will be a zero-tolerance policy, meaning if any rule violations are observed, the participants will be removed immediately.
"The mayor and the council, myself, will be walking the parade along with our first responders to kind of just keep an eye on everything and enforce the new rules," said Christensen. "We're confident though that with the changes that are being made that we'll be able to carry out the parade safely in a way that can be enjoyed by the community."
While Christensen says safety is at the forefront of everyone's mind, honoring Macie is an important part of this year's event. A banner honoring her at the front of the parade, and some participants will wear pink ribbons in her memory.
In addition, the city has been in close communication with the Hill family and plans to install a memorial bench in front of the Kaysville fire station in Macie's honor.
