The first Grove City Chamber of Commerce in 1916 had a membership of 31 individual members and five organizations which included the Ohio Badge Company, Ohio State Board of Agriculture, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Cott Printing Company and the Grove City Times. The current chamber, founded in 1978, has hundreds of members from throughout Central Ohio. Its major annual event is Arts in the Alley.

Much credit for the success of the first parades must be attributed to Dolly and Marvin Thomson of Thompson Floats of Williamsport, Ohio. The couple operated a commercial float building company that supplied the vast number of floats for parades throughout the Midwest. The Thompsons became big supporters for the Grove City event which, at one point, the parade was considered one of the largest parades in Ohio with as many as 32 commercial and privately built float entries. Every Thompson float was in the parade.

The Girl Scout Council was one of the first organization to register with a float entry. Sharon Downs, owner of Zachary’s Restaurant, and Greg Skinner of Roxainne’s Flowers and Gifts, were the first with commercial float entries.

Larry’s Trucking, the local trash collection provider at the time, was the last entry in the Arts in the Alley Parade. Volunteers with black bags walked the parade route to collect trash. Spectators also picked up litter adding items to the trash bags. Pictured is the SWACO float.

In 1991, as horses became a regular addition to Arts in the Alley Parade, it became necessary to deploy a special and critical team called the “Pooper Scoopers”. Those volunteers went about their duties without fan fair but garnered considerable applause from spectators when they showed up with their barrel, shovel and push broom. Band members and walkers appreciated the efforts. Tiny McComb, president of the Heartland Bank, was the first horse drawn unit to participate.