Cars lined up down West Street near Tracy's Automotive to get into the Wausau Events Reverse Parade in Marathon Park. MWC photo by Mike Leischner.
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Wausau’s first-ever reverse parade was such a success that traffic coming out of downtown was backed up while the neighborhoods near Marathon Park saw lines of cars outside their windows for nearly an hour during the event.
Organizers had anticipated around 1,500 cars would drive the route through Marathon Park between 6 and 8 PM on Friday. That estimate was based on the typical parade attendance of 3,000 people, with two people in each vehicle.
Instead, estimates show that nearly 3,000 cars passed through the gates. Though not everyone in line stuck it out, some cars could be seen making a U-turn and leaving the line as the night went on.
Police say the event caused something that’s rarely ever been seen in Wausau- a traffic jam on Stewart Avenue coming out of downtown. Cars were at a standstill all the way back to the Scott Street bridge coming out of downtown.
The floats were initially expected to come down by 8 PM. But with residents still driving through, organizers gave the green light for the event to continue later into the night. Cars were still passing through after 9 PM, but by then some groups began to take down their displays.
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