Class of 2026 Car Parade
Date: June 6th
Check in Time: 9:15 AM at Loop Road
Start Time: 10AM
Students are required to sign up for the event in advance and MUST fill out the waiver.
📆WHEN:
Saturday, June 6th
Cars may begin lining up at the HHS Loop Road starting at 9am through 9:45.
Please do NOT arrive earlier than 9 am.
NO CARS WILL BE ALLOWED INTO THE LOOP ROAD AFTER 10:00am!!!!
PARADE START TIME IS 10 am and is expected to last about 1 hour.
🎉DECORATIONS:
ALL VEHICLES MUST HAVE THE GRADUATE(S)’ NAMES SOMEWHERE ON THEIR CAR! Families are encouraged to decorate their vehicles to celebrate their graduate(s) with posters, flags, banners, streamers, balloons, etc. If using balloons, please ensure they are securely fastened to the vehicle and are on strings no longer than 3ft to ensure they do not encroach on other drivers’ visibility (**also please see note regarding balloons below). Please be sure ALL decorations are secured to your vehicle. Cars should be mostly decorated upon arrival to the Loop Road, however, if necessary, you may quickly put the finishing touches on your vehicle’s decorations, ie balloons, once in line if you’ve arrived with enough time to do so.
🎈**IMPORTANT REQUEST REGARDING BALLOONS**
At least one of our graduates has a family member with a severe/anaphylactic allergy to latex. We obviously cannot police this, but we STRONGLY REQUEST THAT ALL BALLOONS USED ARE MYLAR ONLY, NO LATEX!! The only truly latex-free balloons are those made of mylar. Please consider this when purchasing decorations as we want this event to be safe for all to enjoy.
⏰ARRIVAL & LINE-UP:
Cars will enter via the LOOP ROAD entrance from Hayden Rowe with the HCA on the Right. Please do NOT attempt to enter through the high school lot or HCA lot, as those will be blocked off.
Cars will proceed down the loop road until the fork in the road. At the fork, cars will bear Left toward Hopkins School. Volunteers will be stationed along the loop road to direct you where you will need to line up. Please follow their instructions and be kind, as we could NOT do this event without them.
Cars will be lined up in the order that they arrive. NO EXCEPTIONS. Line “jumping” is NOT allowed. If you want to be lined up with friends, arrive at the Loop Road at the same time. all arrive together. Thanks for your understanding with this, we cannot have the line-up process become chaotic with cars changing positions.
We ask all cars to be ready/decorated and all drivers/passengers in the vehicle by 9:55 AM at the latest.
🚗🚙PARADE START:
Parade will begin rolling out of Loop Road onto Hayden Rowe promptly at 10am. We will be led by a HPD Pace Car driven by Officer Santoro.
🎵MUSIC:
That’s right, we have a PLAYLIST specifically for this amazing event, courtesy of MyFM101.3!!
TUNE YOUR CAR RADIO to 101.3 FM to hear the soundtrack to the 2026 Car Parade, including surprise messages to the graduates from some special people 😉! We encourage spectators to also tune in!
📍PARADE ROUTE: (Approximately 4.2 miles)
• Turn left out of Loop Road onto Hayden Rowe
• Turn right onto Park St
• Turn right onto Ash St
• Turn right onto the continuation of Ash then right onto Chestnut Street
• Turn right onto Hayden Rowe back to HHS
• Parade ends once back at HHS and cars may proceed to their destination from there
🤓PARADE RULES & SAFETY EXPECTATIONS:
No one will be allowed out of their cars during the parade.
Seniors will not be allowed to drive their own vehicle. They will need to have a family member or friend (not in the Class of 2026) to drive them. The driver must be 18 or older. We want the seniors to really enjoy the experience and do not want anyone distracted while driving. We will be checking each car as it arrives at the school.
There is one vehicle per graduate, and vehicles must be pre-registered. Seniors will not be allowed to ride in each other’s cars other than in the case of families with twins.
Seniors must sit in the passenger seat of their vehicle and put a piece of paper with their name on it in a visible location on the windshield/dashboard.
No car should stop or slow down significantly at any point voluntarily – all cars should maintain a safe distance from other cars (one car length) but should keep pace with the parade.
All cars must participate in the full parade route – no car will be permitted to break off of the route.
Those driving must be cognizant of emergency vehicles that may need to get by responding to a call if it happens to be on the same road as the parade.
No one is allowed to hang out of their car window, sunroof or ride in the bed of a truck during the parade. You must be seated, with your seatbelt on, at all times. No throwing any decorations, candy, or items out of the car.
We can’t wait to share this wonderful Hopkinton tradition with our 2026 graduates and community! Thanks for your cooperation in following all the rules and ensuring that the car parade is a safe and fun event to be enjoyed for years to come.
