This will be a long day for Dave Backer, but by 9 p.m. he expects to wear the satisfied smile of a man who has had a great weight lifted from his shoulders.

        The weight, that is, of nine marching bands. Dozens of antique cars. Hordes of Shriners. Scores of Scouts. Myriad members of various law enforcement, firefighter, fraternal and military organizations. Not to mention a plethora of politicians.

Dave Backer is in charge of the Harvest Home parade. (Enquirer photo illustration) | ZOOM |

        They'll all take to the streets of Cheviot for today's Harvest Home parade, the kickoff to the Harvest Home Fair, a 142-year-old west-side tradition sponsored by the Cheviot-Westwood Kiwanis Club.

        Mr. Backer has been parade committee chairman since the mid-'90s. Which means he has experience pulling everyone and everything together. Not that it gives him reason to relax.

        “I'm pretty wound up from now 'til parade day,” Mr. Backer acknowledges.

        With nine days to go, the gray-haired, 59-year-old Monfort Heights resident sits behind a cluttered desk in his cubbyhole of an office at Dave Backer Auto Body and Sales. Even though planning began a year ago, crises can arise at any moment.

        Such as calls from politicians hoping to upgrade their assigned parade position.

        Before last year's parade, for instance, someone called on behalf of a prominent Hamilton County elected official. (Mr. Backer doesn't need any more grief, so he isn't saying who.) Seems the officeholder was perturbed about having to bring up the rear of the nearly three-hour parade.

        Mr. Backer wouldn't budge. “He put his application in really late,” he says.

IF YOU GO

The Harvest Home parade begins at 6 p.m. today at the intersection of Bridgetown Road and Harrison Avenue. It continues on Harrison to North Bend Road, and proceeds on North Bend to the Harvest Home Park entrance.     The 142nd Harvest Home Fair features rides, food, produce and horse shows. It runs 4-11 p.m., Friday; noon-11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Harvest Home Park on North Bend Road at Homelawn Avenue in Cheviot. Admission: $3; ages 11 and under free.     The fair is the only fund-raising event for the Cheviot-Westwood Kiwanis Club. Money raised goes back into the community.

        Forms are dated as they're received, which determines one's placement relative to other politicians. Mr. Backer implemented the first-come, first-served policy soon after becoming parade committee chairman.

        “I adhere to it. I really do,” he says.

        Not that it has settled matters.

        “I've had a number of politicians call me after the parade and say, "I think I was treated unfairly,' ” Mr. Backer says.

        “If they're a Republican, they accuse me of being a Democrat. If they're a Democrat, they accuse me of being a Republican.”

        So, Mr. Backer, what are you?

        “I would rather not say,” he says, noting that for a businessman and parade organizer, political leanings are best left unpublicized.

        Cincinnati Vice Mayor Minette Cooper see the parade as a great way to get face time in front of thousands of voters.

        “I know some people are concerned that other people get better positions, but I always assumed it's a matter of processing,” says Ms. Cooper, who this year has been assigned to the eighth division in the 10-division parade.

        “If you're a politician, and you're near the back, that means all the tomatoes are gone,” jokes Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes, who will traverse the parade route in a friend's '68 Mustang convertible.

        One year, rather than scatter politicians throughout the parade, organizers lumped them all together, one after the other. That didn't go over well with parade watchers.

        “Everybody got up and left,” Mr. Backer says.

        Politicians aren't the only ones who grumble about parade position. The pride of neighboring fire departments also comes into play.

        “They argue about where they're at, or where this guy is, because last year he was in front of me, and this year he's in front of me, too, and why is that?” Mr. Backer says.

        “You've got to be a diplomat.”

        You also have to understand, as Mr. Backer does, that this parade is a Big Deal. There's so much anticipation, residents have placed lawn chairs along the route days before the actual event. Roped them together, in fact.

        When a delivery person was injured while tripping over chairs a couple of years back, and people were having a hard time getting into businesses, something had to be done. The city of Cheviot now asks that spots not be claimed more than 24 hours before parade time.

        With that as the backdrop, it's no wonder Mr. Backer and his 13-person parade committee — Kiwanians all — take their duties seriously.

        Within a week after last year's parade, they met to discuss how the event could be improved. They also settled on this year's parade theme — “Salute to Law Enforcement” — and chose the grand marshal, Kiwanian Dick Feltman, the Harvest Home Fair's secretary/treasurer.

        (Side note: Former vice president Dan Quayle had an opportunity to be grand marshal in 1994 when the parade's theme was “Family Values.” He declined.)

        Then in late February, parade applications were mailed to the previous year's participants with an Aug. 3 deadline. It was not, Mr. Backer admits, strictly enforced.

        Stragglers are accommodated, but without exception they are placed in the 10th division, at the end of the parade. “We've got a hell of an end,” Mr. Backer notes.

        On Aug. 7, the parade committee met in Mr. Backer's finished basement. For eight hours, they pored over application forms and pieced the parade together, all 10 divisions.

        Within each division they sought to include “a little variety for everyone.” A marching band here, an antique car there, a commercial unit and a float, maybe followed by a politician. “We just try to make everything even,” Mr. Backer says.

        Some parade units and their placement are a given. The first unit is always the Forty and Eight Box Car, which shoots off the cannon that starts the parade. Then comes the Kiwanis banner. Then a color guard. Then a marching band; this year, it's Walnut Hills High. (Band positions are rotated from year to year.)

        Shad O'Shea, the first person to return his parade application, will be in the 19th spot with Webster. The latter is a springer spaniel who gained a measure of fame a few years ago when he was an unofficial mayoral candidate in Cheviot. (During the parade that year, volunteers handed out fliers that said: “No other candidate can match my pedigree.”)

        Being near the front, Webster will have no reason to abandon his designated spot and sneak ahead of others, as some politicians have done over the years.

        Parade officials tend to let it slide, so as not to cause a scene. “But we remember it,” Mr. Backer says. “We write it down. And we call them after the parade and say, "We know what you did. If you do it again, you'll be asked not to come back.' ”

        In past years, as parade day approached, Mr. Backer could get last-minute advice from Nick Wersel, who was parade committee chairman for 20 years until asking Mr. Backer to take over.

        Mr. Wersel died Aug. 26.

        “Great guy,” Mr. Backer says. “He really taught me a lot. I get enthused every year because I think of the 20 years he did this. Never complained.”

        At 8 this morning, the parade committee will gather. They'll have signs, stakes, nails, hammers, tape and markers. They'll measure along the streets where the parade forms, until spots are laid out and marked for each entry. The process takes about six hours.

        Then at 5 p.m., Cheviot will close streets, and participants will begin arriving. They'll all have received notices telling them precisely when and where to line up. Still, every year, “Nobody's where they should be,” Mr. Backer says.

        Somehow, it all works out.

        When he took a spot on the parade committee after joining Kiwanis eight years ago, Mr. Backer thought it sounded like fun. And despite all the hassles, he says it still is.

        “It's rewarding to see the parade go on. I feel very good Friday morning. Big load off my shoulders.”

        Until the phone rings, and somebody's wondering why he got stuck waaaaay in back . . .
        Information: 662-0524.

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