A Special Use Case: How Tavares, FL Transformed Its Christmas Parade with Process Automation and Digital Services

Overview

The City of Tavares, Florida, is known for its vibrant Christmas Parade, a cherished community tradition. However, as participation surged—with a 60% increase in vehicles, the event became too large to manage efficiently. The parade stretched beyond 2.5 hours, causing traffic congestion, frustration among residents, and business disruptions.

To address these challenges, city officials implemented Process Automation and Digital Services (PADS), which transformed event registration, enforced participation limits, and dramatically improved efficiency.

CivicPlus spoke with Mark O’Keefe, Director of Support Services, who manages the City’s Information Technology, Emergency Management, and Public Communications.

We also spoke with Yezenia Stephens and Debbie Blais, the Event Coordinator for Support Services, who works closely with Mark to ensure the successful planning and execution of the Tavares Christmas Parade. Now incorporating registration forms from Process Automation and Digital Services to meet that goal, not only have O’Keefe, Blais, and Stephens been able to improve community experiences by returning to a more reasonable size for the parade, but they have also made planning the event easier for themselves.

The Challenge: Disruptive Inefficiencies

In more detail, the Christmas Parade had grown so popular that it expanded from 2 hours to over 4 hours, creating multiple issues:

• Overcrowding & Parade Duration: The influx of entries resulted in a parade that was too long, leading to frustrated attendees and overwhelmed city staff.
• Business Disruptions: Restaurants saw no-show reservations as people avoided the crowds, and road closures limited customer access to businesses.
• Administrative Inefficiencies: Managing applications was a manual, paper-based process, making it challenging to track entries, enforce participation limits, or prevent lost applications.

City leaders recognized the need to modernize the event planning process while ensuring fairness in participation.

“We’ve heard from the residents, the business owners, and a certain someone at the North Pole that it’s gotten way too long – he was at the end of the parade and tired of seeing all the children crying, waiting to see him. The Christmas parade is a tremendous event. You see a lot of civic organizations participate and a lot of businesses, but they were expanding to the point where there were too many of the same vehicles from the same businesses and too many people from the civic organization, so we reasoned it would be smarter to sort of tone it down,” says O’Keefe.

The Solution: Implementing PADS to Streamline Registration

Tavares leveraged CivicPlus Process Automation and Digital Services, a process automation tool, to digitize and automate the parade registration process, enforcing new city council-mandated participation limits:

• Digital Registration Forms: Eliminated paper applications, centralized entries in an online system, and prevented lost forms.
• Automated Participation Limits: The new system automatically enforced limits when applicants filled out the form:
  • Civic organizations could have 10 motorized vehicles or 25 golf carts per entry.
  • Businesses were capped at two motorized vehicles per entry.
• Application Review & Approval Automation: Staff could automatically approve or reject applications based on city-mandated criteria instead of manually reviewing forms.
• Improved Tracking & Accessibility: Previously, event organizers carried around a 4-inch binder of paper applications. Now, they access all parade entries on a mobile device.

“To say it was life-changing for our staff is an understatement,” says O’Keefe.

• Real-Time Data & Reporting: Officials could now quickly generate reports to present to the City Council and track participation trends.

“We didn’t have time to sit down with a pencil and a calculator to prepare our post-event recap for the City Council,” says O’Keefe. “With Process Automation and Digital Services, we just ran a report and had all the data ready to present immediately.”

• Reliable Support: The CivicPlus Support Team has lived up to its reputation for outstanding customer service and proven knowledgeable, responsive, and always ready to assist.

The Impact: A More Efficient & Enjoyable Parade

The new digital process was widely praised at a city council meeting and provided measurable improvements:

• Shorter, More Enjoyable Parade: The automated process helped reduce the parade length, leading to a more engaging event for attendees. The parade has gone from 4 hours to [1.5].
• Business Recovery: Local businesses saw improved foot traffic as parade congestion was controlled and road closures were shortened.
• City Staff Time Saved: The digitized process eliminated [40] hours of manual work, allowing staff to focus on other responsibilities.
• A Fully Digital & Mobile Experience: Parade organizers no longer relied on binders and paper forms—all registration data was accessible on mobile devices.
• City-Wide Digital Expansion: The success of PADS inspired other city departments to digitize their processes, including police applications, building permits, and business licenses.

Conclusion: A Game-Changer for Tavares’ Operational Efficiency

Tavares modernized its Christmas Parade operations by adopting Process Automation and Digital Services, ensuring a smoother, more organized, and technology-driven event experience.

Through strategic digital solutions, the city enhanced operational efficiency, improved public satisfaction, and set the stage for future municipal automation initiatives.