Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s annual, physical Waterland Parade was cancelled this year, but that’s not going to stop Destination Des Moines.

The local non-profit announced this week that it will instead be holding a VIRTUAL Waterland Parade on Saturday, July 18, 2020, which will feature video entries from community members, organizations, and local businesses.

The “virtual” parade will start at 6 p.m., and live streamed on Facebook via DDM’s page as well as The Waterland Blog’s (to get an alert when the parade is live, be sure to “Like” those pages).

All are invited to send in a video or a photo and organizers will include you in the virtual parade; here’s more info From Tony Hettler and Matt Mahoney:

CLICK HERE TO MORE INFO OR TO REGISTER

Here’s more from the 2020 Des Moines Waterland Parade registration form:

Saturday July 18, 2020, starting at 6 p.m. on facebook.com/destinationdesmoines, https://www.facebook.com/waterlandblog/ and TVW Channel 21.

What are we looking for?

We want to see your creativity, talent, and passion for our community.

Individuals – Record a short 6 second shoutout or take a picture of your family with a greeting. This is a great opportunity to thank our first responders and essential workers (grocery store, hospital, utilities, restuarants, teachers, etc)

Businesses – Give us your 15 second elevator speech about what you offer, how long you have been in our community, and what you love most here! This is a great opportunity to thank our first responders and essential workers (grocery store, hospital, utilities, restaurants, teachers, etc)

Organizations – Decorate a car, boat, bike, wagon, scooter, or just yourself for the parade. Record a video up to 90 seconds with your group’s performance or creation. If your performance includes movement, start the performance on the right, moving to the left. A still picture can also be used instead.

Rules and Regulations:

    • All submissions must be received by June 20th, 2020.
    • Entries and themes must be appropriate for a family audience.
    • Submitted entry materials grants Destination Des Moines and parade officials permission to use your images and video on any platform.
    • Destination Des Moines and parade officials reserve the right to edit photos and videos as needed.
    • Destination Des Moines and parade officials reserve the right to exclude any submissions that do no meeting our guidelines or that feature content not aligned with our mission.
    • Award winners will be chosen from eligible entries and decided at the sole discretion of the judges. Winners will be recognized in the parade video.

Entry should not include:

    • A focus on religious, political, ideological, or controversial themes or issues.
    • Use of any political sign, social or political material is not permitted.
    • Items considered to contain obscene, indecent, or profane material.
    • Ridicules, exploits, or demeans persons on the basis of their age, color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation.

Submissions should be emailed to [email protected].

For more info, visit https://www.destinationdesmoines.org.