THE sight of the huge transporters making their way down William Street on Wednesday will mark the official start of the 2019 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 festival.
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The street parade has become a fixture on the Race Week calendar and always draws a big crowd of fans looking for any way to entertain themselves before the on-track action begins at Mount Panorama on Thursday.
The chance to meet some of the legends of Australian motorsport at the driver signing also has many queueing up and is another highlight of the day.
But, again, we have to ask: is this all the parade can be, or should be?
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It's very likely that this year's parade will look and feel much the same as last year's, which looked and felt much the same as the year before.
It's good, yes, but it's not great.
Long-time locals reminisce about the glory days of the Bathurst 1000 street parades in the 1970s and '80s when local businesses, schools and sporting groups were all encouraged to get involved.
Many would like to see a return to those days and we have to to wonder, why not?
There is no doubt the Bathurst community benefits greatly from hosting the Great Race every year, but they also pay a price in terms of congestion around town and the inconvenience of having so many visitors here at once.
Increasingly, the very professional operation to run the race leaves many in town feeling they are not part of the event and that is a shame.
So would increasing community involvement in the parade and throwing an expanded party for the community afterwards help make the Bathurst 1000 an event for the people of Bathurst again?
You would have to think so, and it could also be an opportunity to give back to the community and thank them for hosting Australia's best-loved motor race.
While it's true that Bathurst cannot do without the Bathurst 1000, it's also true that the Bathurst 1000 cannot do without Mount Panorama.
It is a two-way street and the Bathurst community that gives up so much to host the race should not be left behind.
The community has been crying our for a better Bathurst 1000 parade for some years now and it would only take a degree of will to make it happen.
Maybe next year will be the year.