Volunteers needed for Cotton Bowl Parade

Comerica Bank, the sponsor of this year's New Year's Eve Cotton Bowl Parade, is looking for 300 volunteers. I have no idea what jobs these volunteers will handle, but I can tell you one thing: If you volunteer, you probably will be well fed.

The first gig volunteers need to attend is a 6 to 8:30 p.m. planning session this coming Thursday at CenterStage of the First Baptist Church Criswell Center (1707 San Jacinto). The dinner (the first of the well-fed part of all this) begins promptly at 6 with the "informational" part of the meeting commencing at 6:15 p.m. I'm guessing it will be at this meeting that you will be assigned tasks for parade day, but I would advise you not to back out at this point. That would be really bad form. I mean, if you going to volunteer for parade duty you had better see it through the end even if the end means sweeping up after the sheriff's posse. (I say that without even knowing whether there's even going to be a sheriff's posse.)

The parade organizers are saying volunteers will need to set aside 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 31 for parade activities (the parade itself kicks off at 2 p.m. starting at the Comerica Bank Tower, Ervay and Elm, and ending at American Airlines Center). Complimentary parking will be available at the First Baptist Church's Veal Garage of St. Paul. There will be a volunteer sign-in area in the CenterStage lobby and that's also where you'll pick up your parade cowboy hats and buttons. And here's the second part of the well-fed business: There will be a catered lunch from Eddie Dean's Ranch (mmmmm, good barbecue) at 11 a.m.

Here are the qualifications for being a volunteer. You must be at least 18 years old and you should have a pair of black slacks, comfortable black shoes and black socks to wear on that day (the parade will provide you with a long-sleeved t-shirt as well as the cowboy hat). That's it. For $15, you can purchase parade sweatshirt to wear that normally sells for $35.

To actually volunteer go to www.comericabankparade.com or send an e-mail to Sherri Pope at spope@firstdallas.org.