The parade is on March 17 and the road race is the day before.
Protecting participants like these Clydesdales is partly why vendors are prohibited from selling exploding novelties and other items along the route of the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade March 17.
HOLYOKE -- Off-color novelties and toy guns are among the items vendors are banned from selling along the route of this year's St. Patrick's Parade.
The toys, as well as noise and ejection items like snappers and silly string, also are prohibited at the previous day's road race, officials said.
"We don't want to see these things on sale during the parade. We're a family parade," Parade Committee spokesman Raymond H. Feyre said Thursday.
Authority over how vendors can conduct business lies with the city, not the Parade Committee, which supports the decision of the city License Board, Feyre said.
The License Board told vendors Feb. 19 that it had voted on Feb. 13 to ban the sale of toy guns at the road race on March 16 and the parade on March 17.
That came after Mayor Alex B. Morse said some residents requested toy gun sales be banned at the parade to take a stand against violence.
Other items it is illegal for vendors to sell at the parade and road race are items of a sexual nature, stink bombs, drug paraphernalia and items bearing drug symbols, matches, lighters and any type of fireworks, according to the License Board memo to vendors.
"These items may be confiscated under the law," the License Board memo said.
The board consists of Jose Correa, Andrea Brunault-McGuiness and Timothy Grader.
Novelty exploders like snappers and silly string are items that can harass people trying to watch the parade, as well as scare animals that are part of the parade like horses and dogs, police Lt. Matthew F. Moriarty said.